Fractured Mind
by Prince of Madness
Summary: A strange bloodline sets in right before the chunin exams with strange mental illness, how will Naruto deal?
1. Chapter 1, After Wave

Disclaimer: I Do Not Own Naruto

Disclaimer: I Do Not Own Naruto

After Wave

#

Naruto looked at the masked kid who had killed Sasuke, a terrible rage burning in his eyes, "**I'LL KILL YOU!"**

The violent, red chakra that had been swirling around him calmed, and he charged the kid on all fours.

"Not good!" thought the masked boy as a blond and red streak approached him. He threw his senbon at Naruto only to have it deflected by the violent chakra he was releasing.

He turned to go back into one of his mirrors when he felt a hand grasp his ankle and threw against one of the mirrors.

He hit it with a dull thump, and slumped to the ground. He felt a clawed grab him by the throat.

Naruto looked at the boy he held with his narrowed, blood red eyes, and threw him hard against the ice mirror that was in front of him. Even in his current state Naruto felt the glass shred his face and right hand. Not even bothering to wait, Naruto charged at the boy again.

"This is it," the boy thought sadly as the blond boy ran at him, "Good-bye, Zabuza-sama."

The masked boy's mask, cracked from the impact started to fall off his face, revealing a familiar person to Naruto.

Naruto stopped just as he was about to finish this boy, his fist only inches away from his face, "Y-you," Naruto was stunned, "Haku?!"

Haku looked at Naruto bloody and face, noting the bits of flesh that seemed to hang loose from the bone, "Hai, Naruto-kun."

"Why?" Naruto asked weakly.

"Because I am Zabuza-sama's tool," Haku said sadly, "Naruto-kun, please end my life."

"What?! Why?!" Naruto screamed at him, what's so important about Zabuza, huh? Why do you work for that heartless bastard? He doesn't care about who gets hurt!"

"Because he is my precious person," Haku practically whispered, "He saved me, took me in, and trained me. He was the one who took me in after my father tried to murder me after he killed my mother during the bloodline purge."

"Kiri has a different view on bloodline than Konoha," Haku explained, seeing the confused look on Naruto's face, "They were feared through there and eventually they tried to wipe out the bloodlines they have."

"Naruto-kun, Zabuza-sama doesn't have use for a defective tool, please finish me. It would be more of a mercy than leaving me alive," Haku said with firm conviction in his voice.

Naruto nodded and drew a kunai, "I wish we had met a different time, Haku."

Haku nodded silently before he heard something, it sounded like the chirping of birds. His eyes widened, "I'm sorry Naruto-kun, Zabuza-sama still needs me!"

With that Haku drew out the last of his senbon and aimed at Naruto to put him in the same death-like state that he had put Zabuza in only a week earlier.

Naruto felt the senbon hit and his world went black.

#

Naruto felt heavy when he awoke. He opened his eyes, noticing that his right eye seemed bandaged. He tried to sit up and decided against it when a dizzy spell that made him extremely nauseous. So he laid back down.

He reached up to check the bandage over his eye and he saw that most of his right arm had been bandaged as well. He heard someone walk in the room.

"Yo."

Naruto turned to see a man with grey hair that stood up with a mask covering most of his face and his hitai-ate covered his left eye.

"Kakashi-sensei, what's going on?" Naruto bounced right back up. He immediately regretted it as he felt extremely dizzy.

"Whoa, what happened?" Naruto said, his face in his hands.

"We found you at the end of the bridge, near Sasuke. You were tore up pretty badly," Kakashi said in a bored tone, "So we brought you back to Tazuna's house and got you treated."

"Tazuna's house?" Naruto thought for a moment, "Oh, yeah! What happened to Zabuza, sensei?"

"Dead," Kakashi said, more seriously this time, "That false oinin had jumped in the way when I tried to hit him with my Raikiri."

"The attack killed him, but Zabuza was severely injured already. Gato showed up with a small army of thugs. He had no intention of ever paying Zabuza. Zabuza died after he killed Gato."

"What are we going to do with Sasuke's body?" Naruto asked, after thinking a moment.

"Well, Naruto, it would appear that the body will be following us back to Konoha on it's own," Kakashi eye smiled.

"Huh?" Naruto tried to decipher Kakashi's words, then his face lit up in a grin, "YATTA!!"

Naruto jumped up, all feeling of vertigo forgotten, and then proceeded to vomit.

#

Three more weeks went without incident, the construction of the bridge went along smoothly. To soon for Naruto it came time to leave, and almost the entire village came to see them off.

After the team of ninja left, Tazuna looked at the completed bridge, "What do think we should name it?" he asked the crowd.

"How about the Great Naruto Bridge?" the small voice of Inari, Tazuna's grandson, called out of the crowd.

The resultant cheer made the name permanent.

#

Back at Konohagakure, an unwilling Naruto was drug to the hospital by Kakashi after their debriefing with the Hokage.

"Naruto, you have to go," Kakashi stated bored, his nose buried in his little orange book, as he dragged Naruto by the collar with his left hand.

"I don't like hospitals, sensei," Naruto pleaded, "They never do anything to help me. Every time I'm in the hospital, only the hokage visits and the nurses and doctors never come into the room unless ordered."

"I'll be there to give them the order, Naruto, as I will be the ranking shinobi there," Kakashi kept looking at his book.

Inside, Kakashi was seething. He was not a Medic, and his care while in Wave was less than adequate. The fact that at times Naruto's bandages still had to be changed out because of fresh blood that kept coming.

Kakashi hadn't seen the fight, though he had felt the chakra Naruto released. He figured that the tainted chakra had messed with the natural healing ability of the body.

#

By the time that Kakashi and Naruto reached the hospital, Naruto had given up struggling, but was not making it any easier for Kakashi.

Naruto was still being drug along by Kakashi, only Naruto had his arms crossed and he let himself be dragged. Naruto was only hoping that Kakashi would stop and rest so he could bolt the minute Kakashi let go.

Sadly for Naruto this never came to pass.

When Kakashi stopped at the reception counter, he didn't let go of Naruto. He had been thinking about his theory and decided he would gather the rest of Team 7 just in case his theory was correct, and if it was contagious.

"One Uzumaki Naruto needs to be checked up on," Kakashi drawled from behind his book.

"I can take care of that," The nurse behind the desk said with an obviously fake smile.

"Good," Kakashi said as the nurse started the official paperwork, "I also intend to bring in the rest of Team 7 for a check up for chakra poisoning. I will be back in one hour, and I expect Naruto's check up to be finished before I return."

The nurse gives him a surprised look as Kakashi closed his book and leveled a glare at the nurse, "I will report you directly to the hokage if this isn't taken care of, understood?"

The nurse nodded dumbly as she swore she could hear thunder rolling outside the hospital.

"Good," Kakashi eye smiled as the feeling of dread vanished.

#

"Hello, Naruto-kun, I am Kabuto, a medic nin and I am going to give you your check up," a silver haired youth said as he walked in the door.

Naruto just nodded.

"Now, according to Kakshi's report, you were injured almost a month ago, and your wounds, though dressed, still bleed. Is this correct?" Kabuto asked.

"Yes, Kabuto-san," Naruto said quietly.

"All right," Kabuto says as he sits in front of Naruto, "Lets get these bandages off, Naruto-kun."

Naruto flinched as Kabuto brushed against his birthmarks across his cheeks as he removed the bandage on Naruto's head. After that he removed the bandage on Naruto's hand.

Again Naruto flinched as Kabuto flushed out Naruto's wounds, not out of pain, but out of something different. His skin felt tender as it was finally truly allowed to breathe.

"Now this is interesting, Naruto-kun," Kabuto said as he examined Naruto wound around his right eye.

"What, Kabuto-san?" Naruto said, interested in what Kabuto had seen.

"Have a look," Kabuto handed Naruto a small hand mirror.

#

Kakashi was walking up to the hospital with Team 7 when he heard Naruto's scream. He just turned the page in his book.


	2. Chapter 2, Who are you?

I Don't Own Naruto

I Don't Own Naruto

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"What the hell is this?!" Naruto screamed as he looked in the little hand mirror. It scared Naruto, to see that his eye and face had changed so drastically.

His eye had changed to a solid yellow. No whites, no pupil. In the cuts that he had received from the ice mirror something had grown up through it. When Naruto touched it, he discovered it was his skin. White in complexion, and Naruto could see very, very faint black lines running through the skin in a complex pattern.

"It is odd, isn't it?" Kabuto said, inside his mind he was giggling like a little schoolgirl, "Now, Naruto-kun, I'll need some blood to run some tests."

Naruto cringed, but stayed still so that Kabuto could draw blood.

As Kabuto drew blood, he thought of the potential he saw before him, "If this is what I think it is, my contact would be pleased to relay this information. If it is a bloodline, interesting as it may be, it is an unknown variable. This could changes all of our plans, for better or for worse."

He finished drawing blood and looked at the wounds on Naruto's head and hand, "I can make those stop bleeding, but it will sting. Okay?"

Naruto nodded is head while Kabuto went to work with a simple medic jutsu that cauterized wounds, while often only used on the battlefield to stop somebody from bleeding out, Naruto's wounds had resisted and other attempts at healing.

The word "sting" was an understatement. To Naruto, it hurt like a bitch, and it took all of his willpower to stop himself from decking Kabuto right there.

"All right," Kabuto started, "Seeing your reaction to your changes, I'm going to cover you back up, Naruto-kun."

"I'll see you later, Naruto-kun," Kabuto chimed cheerfully as Naruto left.

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Kabuto sighed peacefully as he headed towards the lab.

It was only luck that the demon child was on his roster for the day, but it turned out to be quite a day. It looked as though the child might possess an unknown bloodline, or it could be the Kyuubi. If it were the latter the brat would most likely be put down.

This is what he liked about having a novice medic's license, it allowed to collect research for his master. Even though his actual skills were better, it would arouse to much suspicion if someone his age just suddenly brought too much attention to the so called prodigy. That was a bad bid for a spy.

Though his master was mostly interested in the Uchiha brat, Kabuto tried to keep an eye out for new blood that sprang up. The demon child could prove a valuable asset if he did have a bloodline, and given the way he was treated, he probably could be easily persuaded to come with them.

To top it all off, he got some flesh _and_ blood to work on. Both would prove extremely helpful, as blood didn't necessarily contain the mutation that the bloodline held. It could only point in the right direction.

"Yes," Kabuto thought, "This is a great day indeed."

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As Naruto was leaving he saw the rest of Team 7 and his sensei, "Hey Sensei, Sakura-chan, Teme."

Naruto greeted them all in turn, first was Kakashi, with his nose in his book, second was a pink haired girl whom Naruto had almost always had a crush, and third was the black haired kid that he'd thought Haku had killed.

"Check up's over Naruto?" Kakashi asked Naruto, who nodded his head with a goofy grin on his face.

"And?"

"Can I tell you in private sensei?" Naruto asked, with a sudden change in demeanor. He became almost depressed.

"Does it affect anyone else on the team?" Kakashi asked.

"No, sensei, just me," Naruto said.

"Alright," Kakashi turned towards the rest of the team, "Go on ahead, our appointment is still about 15 minutes out."

"Baka's probably just trying to get attention," Sakura said, a little loudly as she walked away, causing Naruto to cringe.

Naruto felt something shift inside him at that time, unsettling the blond just a little.

"Hn," was the only reply that Sasuke gave.

"Hey Sasuke-kun?" Sakura started.

"No."

With that the Uchiha made his way to the appointment, praying that his sensei had set three _different_ appointments. He didn't want to spend anymore time around Sakura than necessary.

To his immense relief, the hospital staff let them have their appointments right away when the showed up on time. Kakashi still hadn't shown when they left.

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Naruto lead Kakashi off aways and turned into a more isolated spot in the city.

"Naruto?" Kakashi asked when they stopped.

"I don't know what's happening to me, sensei," Naruto said as he began to unwrap the bandage around his head.

"It's affected my hand as well," Naruto as he finished undoing the bindings and removed the bandage.

Kakashi looked stoic as ever, as astonished as he was right now.

Looking in the eye Kakashi, he felt something inside him snap. He didn't feel bad, the problem was that it felt…_right_. He felt like something was added, it felt incomplete, but it felt so right at the same time.

"Just thought you should know," Naruto said as he redid the bandages and skulked off.

Kakashi just stood there, his mind racing furiously. Fearing the work of the Kyuubi, Kakashi rushed to meet with the Hokage. He showed up to his doctor's appointment almost 3 hours late.

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As Naruto walked home, he saw Sakura, "Hey, Sakura-Chan," he hailed as he got closer, "Do you want to"

Naruto never finished as Sakura's fist met the top of his head, "No, Naruto," Sakura said with an edge in her voice, "I will not go out with you!"

"Son of a" Naruto began to scream as he clutched his head.

"_Son of a" _an echo receded in Naruto's head.

"What the…?" Naruto started as he watched Sakura walk away.

"_I have no idea why I fixated on her. Damn that hurt!"_ that same echo.

Naruto looked around wildly, oblivious to the people who were starting to stare.

"_Not out there dummy,"_ the echo with drawled with some annoyance, _"I wish I was out there, but noooo I'm in here. In you!"_

"Kyuubi?" Naruto thought absently.

"_Again, No. Not Kyuubi, at least I got somebody new to talk to," _the echo cackled, _"The Kyuubi was always difficult to talk with, even now because the big bastard is still asleep. Pretty boring."_

"Who are you?" Naruto said out loud.

The echo was cackling madly.

"WHO THE HELL ARE YOU!!" Naruto screamed, making several of the people watching him back off, many going to report this to ANBU.

The last thing you want in a village is a crazy demon container.


	3. Chapter 3, Evaluations

I Do Not Own Naruto

I Do Not Own Naruto

A/N For those of you looking for an instant relationship and bloodline, you are reading the wrong story. I haven't had any complaints yet, so I decided to nip it before it started. The full bloodline will not be revealed until after time-skip, and the naruino part _starts_, as in doesn't jump face first, soon. Can anybody guess what Naruto's bloodline is and does? The only hints I'm giving are in the chapters itself. Any thoughts or suggestions are, of course, are welcome.

Oh, and get used to cliffies. They are often the best ways to end a chapter, builds tension, and of course, give me a break to reread to next part and add anything I might have missed as I am my own beta.

_Thoughts / "Echo"_

"Talking"

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"_Who am I?"_ the echo seemed to ponder for a moment, _"I don't really know. I have only really…matured, I guess."_

Naruto was on his knees clutching his head, "Huh?"

"_The earliest thing I remember, honestly, is just bits and pieces until about three days ago, I guess. Let me see if the new guy can say anything."_ The echo stated matter of factly.

Then Naruto's head went quiet.

Naruto felt somebody grip his arms as he was drug up from the ground to face an ANBU, "Uzumaki-san," a feminine voice said, "I have been ordered to escort you to our interrogation department to undergo a psychiatric evaluation."

Naruto felt pressure on his neck before his world went black.

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"Ah, Kakashi, what is this surprise visit about?" The third, a very old a grey man, asked as he took a puff from his pipe.

"Hokage-sama," Kakashi started, "I just returned from the hospital after Naruto's check-up," Kakashi hesitated.

"Yes?" The third pressed.

"Hokage-sama," Kakashi said while looking at the ground, "You must understand that Naruto showed me this in confidence, and I would only bring it to your attention if I deemed it important enough."

"Of course, Kakashi, I understand. I will use my utmost discretion to look into this," the Third took another long drag from his pipe.

"I took Naruto to the hospital because even after three weeks his wounds were not showing any signs of healing. Fearing that maybe the Kyuubi's chakra had somehow hurt Naruto's body's natural healing," Kakashi said quickly, "When I took him aside he undid his bandages and showed me what lied underneath, when the wounds were properly flushed and treated."

Kakashi took a deep breath, "He's changed, Hokage-sama. Physically. The areas underneath where scabs should have been forming was extremely pale, and his eye had gone from blue to yellow. The _entire _eye. He has no pupil or whites in that eye, but he appeared to be able to see out of it."

"Interesting," the Third said as he took a much shorter puff from his pipe.

"I'm just afraid that the Kyuubi may be doing something to him," Kakashi finished.

"No Hyuugas have come forward to say that they have seen the Kyuubi's chakra coming from the boy, Kakashi. So if there was any damage done, the Kyuubi does not have it's paws in it at this point in time," the third set down his pipe.

"Thank you, Kakashi, I'll be sure to check up on it. Dismissed."

When the Third was sure that Kakashi had left he pulled down the photo of the Fourth, "I'm so sorry," the Third said to the photo.

"Hokage-sama!" an ANBU appeared in the room in a swirl of leaves.

The Third sighed, "Does it involve Naruto?"

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Naruto came to in a very mellow colored room, it didn't seem to hold much, but it didn't seem meant for anything involving needles, clipboards, or any other implement of torture.

Naruto sat up in the couch he had been set in.

"I see you're awake, Uzumaki-san," a male voice said as the door opened to the room.

A man walked in with a black trench coat on with a bandanna over his head, he had a few scars on his face.

"I am Ibiki, I will be administering your evaluation," the man said as he slumped down in the chair.

"Um, Ibiki-san, where am I?" Naruto asked with a shaky voice.

"To be specific, you are in the ANBU Interrogation and Torture division," Ibiki said, enjoying watching Naruto's face pale, "This is also where shinobi come to have a psychiatric evaluation."

"Psychowhat?" Naruto said.

"Psychiatric," Ibiki said, "It basically means that we are making sure that there is nothing wrong with your head. As I am the best at understanding the mind, and you are a special case, I was sent to take care of your…specific needs."

"But there's nothing wrong with my head, except for the wounds I'd received," Naruto stated with a frown.

Ibiki sighed, "How about I ask questions and you answer truthfully and we'll go from there. The only people who will have access to this report is myself and the Hokage."

Naruto nodded his head.

"Alright," Ibiki pulled out a pen, "Do you, or have you, ever had dreams and/or fantasies involving any sort of mother figure?" Ibiki asked. Hearing no answer he looked up.

Naruto's eyes were wide, and his jaw was on the floor. Ibiki sweat dropped, _"This is going to be a long day."_

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About 2 and a half hours later Naruto was walking down the streets of Konoha rubbing his temples, trying to massage the pounding headache he had away.

This guy, Ibiki, had asked what some of what turned out to be some of the most debasing questions of his existence, and he had also gotten a crash course in sex education, in excruciating detail.

And dear god he was thankful that he did not have this "Oedipus Rex" syndrome. (1)

He was fate's bitch enough as is, not that he believed in fate.

Naruto sighed as he approached his apartment a pulled out his keys.

After wading through the ramen cups on the floor, Naruto reached his bed. He collapsed into it and promptly fell asleep.

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Ibiki sighed as he went over the report with the Third, "Sarutobi-sama, as you can see, I believe Uzumaki-san is still an eligible shinobi, but I think he needs to have a monthly check-up with me."

"I thought you hated kids, Ibiki," the Third chuckled.

"I do, but as you've seen fit to give him to me, I cannot allow him to be seen by anybody else. That normally would not break confidentiality, but with how well the boy's liked around the village, I think the wrong psychiatrist would be more than willing to go to the council to sell him out. If the council got even a whiff of this, they would have him executed where he stands."

"Why the caution?"

"Well, Sarutobi-sama," Ibiki began, "I believe Naruto has Schizophrenia (2) and a dormant Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (3). He said that he starting hearing a voice today, and an apparent crush on his teammate just vanished, a teammate that he always pays attention. He never fails to try and ask her for a date, and he said that for whatever reason those apparent feelings just vanished. He was extremely confused when I started asking him how he felt about Haruno-san. It appeared that he was not sure, and that was something he normally would have admitted in a heartbeat."

During this time, Sarutobi had been smoking a storm. There was now a small cloud around his head, "That is indeed a bit disturbing, Ibiki, I will be sure to have him set up for monthly meetings. These can and will be canceled for missions, unless it's in your profession opinion otherwise?"

"For the first three meetings, Sarutobi-sama, I would say that he should go to those period, and I'll give a more in depth evaluation after this three month period."

"Alright, Ibiki, but please do not try to break the boy," Sarutobi said to Ibiki.

Ibiki smirked, "I'm doing a evaluation on one of our own, Sarutobi-sama. I am not trying to interrogate some prisoner."

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Naruto showed up to his next team meeting extra tired. He had had both intense nightmares and extremely naughty dreams, and he knew exactly whose fault it was.

"Hey Sakura," Naruto hesitated when he hailed his team, "-chan, Teme."

The last part was said with a curt nod to Sasuke.

Finally, about an hour and a half after the team was supposed to meet, a swirl of leaves, and Kakashi appeared.

"I'm sorry I'm late, I had to help an old lady cross the street," Kakashi said in a dull drone.

"LIAR!!" both Sakura and Naruto screamed at Kakashi.

"Anyway, no team training for the next three weeks," he handed the three each a piece of paper, "I have nominated the three of you for the Chunin Exams. They take place in three weeks. Take this time to carefully consider your choices before you enter."

With that he was gone in a swirl of leaves.

Naruto walked past Sakura and Sasuke without even pausing, already deep in thought on the Chunin Exams.

"Sasuke-kun?" Sakura started.

"No."

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1-Oedipus Rex Syndrome: Named for the Greek epic of the same name. Oedipus was a man who was cast out by his family when he was a baby, raised elsewhere. While traveling along a road he killed a man. He saved a city from the Sphinx (this is where the riddle of the Sphinx comes from, more than likely stolen from Egyptian mythology), and married the Stewardess. PLOT TWIST. Years later, with a happy family (with kids). The man he killed on the road was his father and the woman he married was said man's wife, his own mother. Oedipus Rex Syndrome is characterized by an extremely unhealthy, but common, fixation on the parent (usually opposite of the child) from the children. Common because when the child becomes more sexually aware, they often see the person they're closest too. Usually their parents. I can thank High School English for my knowledge of this Greek epic.

2-Schizophrenia: Is Not Multiple Personality Disorder. Schizophrenia is a PERSONALITY disorder. Characterized by just about anything imaginable: Hallucinations, Voices only you can hear, things of that nature.

3-Obsessive Compulsive Disorder: Extremely common to varying degrees. Characterized by an extreme fixation on just about anything: Certain movements, people, places, and things. Usually repetitious.

And that concludes my fun fact corner of the day. All disorder description will be posted on the bloodline pages.


	4. Chapter 4, The Exams Begin

I Do Not Own Naruto

I Do Not Own Naruto

A/N

Shout-out to Whitefox-chan. Her story is awesome and you can find it under my profile in my favorites. If you do read please vote on the poll she has going on. As for longer, more detailed chapters, I'm trying my damnedest. It will get better, I promise. As she said, I am avoiding the question for the simple fact that I am assuming that some of my readers may have never even seen Naruto, so just a name with no description doesn't give them a proper story.

I'm currently looking for somebody who can translate for me so I can actually name Naruto's bloodline and any techniques that go with it, anybody who can get back to me within a week, two at most, are good.

Stats are made up for Kabuto's part at the end.

"_Thoughts"_

"_Echo__"_

"Speech"

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"_DAMMIT!!__"_ Naruto heard the echo in his head as he lay at his apartment, thinking about the chunin exams.

"What now?" Naruto groaned.

"_He's just as silent as the other one,__" _the echo screamed, causing Naruto to start rubbing his temples, _"__At least from Big Red I can get a grunt or a snore, but NOOOOO, the new guy just sits around and does absolutely NOTHING!!__"_

"At least I don't have to listen to him bitch as well," Naruto yawned.

"_Well, at least I still can talk to you!_" the echo said, sounding a little giddy.

"_Aw shit,"_ Naruto thought.

"_I heard that__!"_

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Kabuto sighed as he went over the report on Naruto's tissue. According to the reports he'd received, there were indeed mutations in the brat's DNA that suggested a Bloodline of some form.

What frustrated Kabuto, though, was the lack of recent data of Naruto's condition, mental or physical. The fact that the brat was a Jinchuriki didn't help the matter. It had taken Kabuto almost 3 full weeks of sleepless nights to sort through all the other changes that had happened to the brat as a result of being a demon container.

Kabuto would kill to have a Hyuuga have a look at Naruto to look at recent changes in the brat's chakra flow.

That stopped him. The Hyuuga. A lot of them hate the boy. If he dropped a line to the Hyuuga, with…

"_That could work,"_ Kabuto smiled darkly.

He got up. It was time to go see Hiashi.

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Two weeks later found Naruto coming out of his favorite Ramen stand about two days later with an extremely satisfied smile on his face.

He wandered along the road, and eventually noticed the "rock" that was following him.

"Konohamaru," Naruto started, "Rocks are not square, nor do they have eyeholes."

An explosion of smoke revealed three kids on their hands and knees having a hacking fit.

"Dammit, Udon, you used too much gunpowder!!" yelled one who had a long blue scarf around his neck and short brown hair.

"I'm sorry, Konohamaru," said the other boy who appeared to have a runny nose, also with short brown hair.

"We'll do better next time!" chimed the one girl of the group, who had orange hair, pulled back in a odd style.

"Yeah, we will Moegi!" Konohamaru got up.

"Hey guys," Naruto smiled at the three children.

"Hey, boss, how are ya…WHOA!" Konohamaru started, "What happened to you boss?!"

"I got injured in my last mission," Naruto told the kids as he smiled at them.

"Boss, that was about a month ago, shouldn't that have healed?" Udon questioned.

"I had it looked at when we got back, something seemed to be messing with my body's healing," Naruto answered.

"Can I see what's underneath the bandages?" Moegi asked.

"Sorry, no."

"That sucks, Boss. Anyway, you agreed to play ninja with us today!" Konohamaru said with excitement.

Naruto smiled while scratching the back of his head, "Did I say that?"

"A ninja playing ninja?" a new voice sounded, "How silly do you get Naruto?"

Naruto turned and saw Sakura, "Hey, Sakura-chan!"

"Hey, Boss! Is this your," Konohamaru stuck out his pinkie, "You know?"

Naruto saw Sakura's glare and started fearing for his life, "No! No, Konohamaru," he answered quickly, waving his hands in front of himself dismissively, "She's just one of my teammates."

"Oh," Konohamaru thought for a moment, "Of course! Even I can see that you wouldn't go out with such a flat-chest!"

"_Aw shit" _Naruto thought, panicking.

"_Aw shit__"_ the echo deadpanned.

"Run like hell Konohamaru," Naruto said urgently as he heard Sakura crack her knuckles.

Seeing the look on Sakura's face, Konohamaru didn't have to be told twice. He took off at a dead run and turned around a corner.

"Oof," was heard from around the corner as Naruto and Sakura ran around the corner after him.

They saw Konohamaru being held up by a kid with kabuki paint on his face and wearing a black body suit with a large white bundle on his back.

"Hey!" Naruto called at him, "Put him down!"

The newcomer looked Naruto up and down, "What are you gonna do? You look like a stiff wind could knock you over."

"Kankuro, put him down we don't want any trouble," a blond kunoichi came up behind him.

"I'm gonna have my fun, Temari," Kankuro said, a sadistic smirk on his face.

The blond just shook her head, "You know how _he_ gets Kankuro."

"Well he's not here right now, is he?" Kankuro raised his fist to strike Konohamaru when a rock sailed out and hit him on the head, causing him to drop Konohamaru.

Sasuke calmly walked out of the treeline with another rock in his hand, "Leave."

"Another wannabe, huh?" Kankuro scoffed as he reached for the bundle on his back.

"Kankuro," Temari said with a warning tone, "You shouldn't bring that out here."

"_He's _not here, so I'm gonna have a little fun," Kankuro smirked.

"I want to no part of it," Temari started to walk off.

"Kankuro," A new voice rang out, "You are embarrassing our village."

"G-gaara," Kankuro started, his eyes widening, "They started it."

"If you don't stop, I'll kill you," A redhead with black rings around his eyes, a large gourd on his back, and the kanji for "love" on his forehead appeared in a swirl of sand, "Apologize."

Kankuro looked towards Team 7, "I apologize," he said quietly, venom laced in his voice.

"Good," Gaara said, he looked at Sasuke, "Name."

"Uchiha Sasuke," the Uchiha said with a smirk.

Looked at Naruto, "Name."

"Why would you care about that baka," Sakura started.

"I did not speak to you. Speak out of line again and I will kill you," Gaara ground out.

Sakura hushed.

"Uzumaki Naruto," Naruto said, a little hurt by Sakura's comment.

"Sabaku no Gaara," he said monotone, "My siblings behind me are Kankuro and Temari. I look forward to killing you."

"Temari, Kankuro, Come."

"Wait!" Sakura screamed at them, "You aren't Konoha Ninja, what are you doing here?"

"Aren't you bright," Temari started, "We are here for the Chunin Exams."

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"Wait!" Kabuto started, "There is one other thing."

"Really, Kabuto-kun?" a smooth voice said to Kabuto that sent shivers up his spine.

"Yes," Kabuto said, "The demon brat, Naruto, seems to have a bloodline."

"Really? That is indeed interesting," Kabuto could actually hear the voice smile, "Kabuto-kun?"

"Yes?" Kabuto said.

"Master would like you to team up with the brat sometime during the exam," the voice went a little deeper, "he would like to see the brat's capabilities. With this new information, you could gather information on this supposed bloodline."

"I understand," Kabuto bowed and then left quickly to get to work.

"Kukukuku," the voice laughed darkly, "Konoha has indeed become full of surprises since I've been gone."

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Sarutobi took a puff on his pipe. He had sent for the medical records of one Uzumaki Naruto, which happened to be the cause of his current headache.

There had already been a lab test done on the child to see if there was a bloodline. That's not what bothered Sarutobi. Normally the record kept spotless records, and in the past that had proved doubly so in Naruto's case, Sarutobi assumed that that was because they were looking for something to use against his surrogate grandson.

No what bothered him is that the records concerning the lab results were out of order, and they were slightly crumpled, where all the other papers were crisp, without any form of crease or crinkle. Also the results had not been reported directly to him after they had been taken as was typical.

It appeared to Sarutobi as if there was somebody who was interested in Naruto, and that interest, he was sure, was not in the boy's best interest.

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Team 7 walked up the steps to the academy, going to take the Chunin Exams. They checked their paperwork, and noted that they had to head to room 307.

"_I've got a lovely bunch of coconuts, all a sitting in a row,__"_ the echo had been singing almost non-stop in Naruto's head, _"__Big Ones, Small Ones, Some as big as…__"_

"I swear to Kami if you keep singing I'll find a way to skin you alive," Naruto grumbled to himself.

"_Well, excuse me if I get extremely bored with no one else to talk to,__"_ the echo said, _"__and I haven't even…HEY! I like that one!__"_

Naruto looked up in time to see the blond of his graduating class latching onto Sasuke, and Sakura was already on her screaming at her.

Naruto looked around the room and saw all sorts of assembled teams from all over.

"Troublesome," another voice said behind Naruto.

Naruto turned to see a kid with black hair tied back into a pony-tail. He was being followed by a redheaded kid eating chips who had red swirls on his cheeks.

"Hey Shikamaru, Hey Chouji," Naruto hailed hailed the two.

"You guys are in too? Troublesome," the black haired boy responded.

"Oh, come on Shikamaru," the redhead responded through the chips he was eating, "Hey Naruto."

"Well, looks like everyone's here," another voice called out.

Everyone looked to see three people approaching, two boys and one girl. One of the boys wore a parka, had brown hair, had red markings along his cheeks, and had a small white and brown dog perched on his head. The other boy had brown hair as well, he wore black sunglasses and a tan trench coat. The girl had pale lavender eyes and short dark hair, obviously a Hyuuga, she had a very heavy coat on.

As soon as the girl saw Naruto she squealed and hid her face as she blushed.

"Man even the dead-last got in?" the one with the dog on his head said, "man, this should be easy. Right, Akamaru?" The dog on his head yipped.

"Ano, K-kiba-kun," the girl stuttered, "I-it's n-n-not nice to talk down on people."

"Just let him be, Hinata," the boy with sunglasses said.

"Hai, S-s-shino-kun," Hinata nodded at him.

Another team walked in brushing past the rookies, all wearing Konoha Hitai-ate. One was a girl who had her hair tied back into two buns. Her other two teammates were unique as well. One of the boys had a bowl-cut, and wore a green spandex suit with orange leg warmers. The other wore a plain garb and had long black hair, who also had lavender eyes, and also obviously a Hyuuga.

"Geez, you guys are being too loud," a familiar voice called out to them.

Naruto turned, "YOU!!"

Kabuto smiled and waved, "Hello, Naruto-kun. Feeling better?"

"You said that it would only sting, you bastard!" Naruto yelled at him.

"Well, you let do the operation, now didn't you?" Kabuto asked as he slid his glasses back up the bridge of his nose.

"Well, yeah," Naruto grinned sheepishly.

"Anyways, you're all new?" Kabuto grinned, "Well, my name is Kabuto, and I can help you all out if you like, this isn't the first time I've taken this exam."

"Is this your second time, Kabuto-san," Sakura asked.

Kabuto's grin grew wider, "Seventh," Sakura blanched.

"How can you help us?" Sasuke asked.

"Straight to the point, you're no fun," Kabuto said with a chuckle, "I've got these cards that have detailed information on most of the genin here that I've gathered on my own, or threw the exam."

"Do you have any information on Sabaku no Gaara?" Sasuke asked.

"Takes the challenge out of it if you know their name," Kabuto pulled out a card, "Sabaku no Gaara, teammates Sabaku no Kakuro, and Sabaku no Temari, 3 B ranked missions, 16 C ranked missions, and no D ranked missions. Rumored to have come back from every mission without a scratch. That's quite a resume. Anybody else?"

The green, spandex clad genin spoke up, "Uchiha Sasuke."

"Uchiha Sasuke, teammates Haruno Sakura, and Uzumaki Naruto, 1 A ranked mission and 63 D ranked missions."

"That's rude, Lee," the girl with the buns said to her teammate, "you shouldn't get information on ninja from your own village."

A quiet voice rang out, "Uzumaki Naruto."


	5. Chapter 5, The First Exam

I Do Not Own Nartuo

I Do Not Own Nartuo

A/N Does anybody else feel dirty for having to write lines for Gai, Lee, or Sakura?

Anyone seen this garbage about the 5th movie focusing on Sasuke?

Is the manga entitled "Sasuke the big fat asshole liar jerk who turned on his home village and tried to kill his best friend just for power"? No, the page isn't long enough. Nothing actually against Sasuke, no really, but I really do not like any story that tends to focus too much away from the main character(s), in this case, Naruto.

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"What the HELL, Neji?!" the girl with buns screamed at her other teammate.

"I am merely curious, Tenten," the lavender eyed boy said to his teammate, "besides, we may have to fight them during the exams, even if we don't want to."

"Tenten-chan, I must apologize for my unyouthful behavior," Tenten's other teammate bowed to her.

"It's all right Lee, Neji does have a valid point," Tenten leveled a glare at Neji, "but that doesn't make it any less rude."

Neji seemed unfazed and just waited for Kabuto to continue.

"Uzumaki Naruto, Teammates are Uchiha Sasuke and Haruno Sakura, same missions as his teammates as well as one C ranked mission from before he graduated," Kabuto smiled and pushed up his glasses, "This seems to be an accomplished team."

Sasuke glared a Naruto while Sakura was just shocked at the extra mission that Naruto had completed, her stupor didn't last long.

"There's no way that the dead-last could have done an extra mission from before graduation," she shrieked at Kabuto, "There is no way that such an idiot could have done that! You must have gotten a mix-up between his a Sasuke-kun's information!"

Kabuto turned his card towards her, showing Naruto's picture and mission history, "I'm sorry Haruno-san," he smiled, "but my information is never wrong."

"When the hell do you do that dead-last," Sasuke glared icily at Naruto.

Naruto smiled and scratched the back of his head, "I'm not really sure."

Kabuto put his cards away, "You all really should bring less attention to yourselves though, after all there are a lot of teams here," he motioned the room behind him, "anywhere from Suna to the unknown newbies of Oto."

"Oto won't be unknown for long, asshole," one of the Sound Genin charged Kabuto only to stop when he heard a voice ring out, "Sit down and shut-up you ungrateful little brats!!"

Naruto froze at the voice, "Oh, please, anybody but him!" Naruto quickly began praying to all the deities he knew of, to no avail.

"My name is Morino Ibiki, head of the torture and interrogation division, and I will be administering the first exam," Ibiki walked calmly into the room, "You! Naruto!" he points to Naruto.

"Y-yes, Ibiki?" Naruto shivered just from the sight of him. He was still disgusted from the variety of degrading questions he been asked, mainly about his idols.

"I expect to see you as soon as the exam is over," Ibiki smirked as he watched all the other genins slowly edge away from Naruto.

"_The kid deserves a little notoriety,"_ he thought sadistically, _"I can at least give him a little bit of edge when he ends up having to fight later. Who wants to have to fight somebody who is on the first name basis of somebody who tortures for a living?"_

Ibiki did like the boy, his pranks were legendary, and they even got him to laugh at the sheer sadistic pleasure the kid seem to take whenever he pranked somebody who had wronged him.

"_Too bad that kid has some serious mental issues,"_ Ibiki mused, _"It's not like it's stopped any of the other ninja from advancing or gaining a reputation, though, so I think the kid will still be able to go far."_

"All right, I want all of you little maggots to get your assigned seat from the nearest Chunin," he watched all the Genin in the rooms scramble towards the chunin with a smirk.

As they all found their seats, he began his test.

"All right everyone," He began, "it goes like this. Every one has 10 points. Every correct answer gives you one point, every time you are caught cheating will lose you two points. Lose all 10 points and you and your entire team fails. Begin!"

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The Jounin for the rookies all sat in the lounge discussing their teams.

Kakashi was talking to the others when he was interrupted, "My eternal rival!"

Kakashi sighed, as he looked at the Jounin who was dressed in green spandex and had a bowl-cut, "Did you say something?"

The ninja seemed taken aback before he broke into gregarious laughter, "Oh, I see through your hip and cool attitude!"

Kakashi began to rub his temples, "Yes, Gai?"

"What do you think about the teams and their first exam?" Gai shouted at him, the other Jounin leaned in to hear what he had to say as well.

"Really, Gai, I'm right here," he sighed again, "I really don't know. I have few doubts about Sasuke or Naruto, but Sakura worries me."

"Oh really," a dark haired man with a goatee said as he lit up a cigarette, "Why is that?"

"The examiner is Morino Ibiki," Kakashi deadpanned.

"Ah, that most unyouthful man is giving the first exam?" Gai calmed down some.

"Now, Gai, just because of his profession does not make him a bad person," The man with the cigarette with a drag.

"Who is Morino-san?" the last Jounin said, this one a woman, wearing a white bandage-type dress, with long black hair a red eyes.

"Ah, yes, you wouldn't know yet would you, Kurenai?" Kakashi eye smiled, "Asuma, the honors?"

The man with the cigarette took a extremely long drag from his cigarette, "Morino-san is the head of the ANBU Interrogation and Torture Division."

He turned toward Kakashi, "I can understand the Uchiha, but what about the dem-"

"You will not finish that most unyouthful comment, Asuma-san," Gai said with a growl.

"Indeed," Kakashi said with venom in his voice as well, "Sasuke, because he has been through worse, and Naruto-kun," he gave a pointed glare at Asuma, "because he has been receiving psychological treatment directly from Ibiki himself."

Kakashi just smiled at the faces of his peers.

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"Numbers 21, 14, 57, and 64 and Team fails!" A kunia hit a test of a Genin who sat in front of Naruto, as well as other ninja scattered all around the room.

Naruto jumped, though during this test, Naruto had jumped at every little noise.

Naruto was out of his mind with worry. A paper test. How the hell was he supposed to complete a paper test? Naruto didn't know what to do when a small voice startled him, "N-n-naruto-kun," the lavender-eyed girl from before said.

"_Hinata,"_ he remembered, he just gave her a sheepish grin.

"Y-y-you can c-copy my test," she said, offering her test to him.

"_TAKE IT!!__"_ the echo screamed.

Naruto flinched, "Sorry, Hinata-chan," he gave her his best smile, "I don't want you to get into trouble over me."

She blushed and took her test back.

"_You stupid Motherfu-__" _the echo started.

"_ONE MORE COMMENT ABOUT MY MOTHER OR MY ACTIONS AND THERE WILL BE CONSEQUENCES, GOT IT?!"_ Naruto screamed in his head as he palmed his face, giving off a very audible growl, which made everyone around him look at him.

"…_Yes, sir…__"_

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Ibiki was getting mad. He had done a little to help the blond kid's reputation, and the kid didn't even get the exam at all. He just sighed to himself as he nodded to one of the Chunin who was standing next to the thermostat.

The Chunin almost imperceptibly nodded back and raised the room temperature by another 5 degrees.

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40 minutes and 10 nods later, Ibiki decided it was finally time to end the test.

"All right," he screamed at the Genin, "you little shits, it's time for the last question."

Many of the Genin had taken of their coats and what not, and many more were sweating heavily.

"Let's lay the ground rules though," his smile only had a hint of sadism, "You can choose whether or not to take the next question."

"Why the hell would we do that? Of course we'll take the question!" A Genin from Kusa yelled.

Ibiki's smile widened, "But there's a catch. If you choose to answer the question and you fail, you will never be able to take the Chunin Exams again and can never advance in rank."

"What, there are people who've taken the test before, though!" It was Sakura's turn to yell.

"It's a shame I wasn't the examiner last year as well," Ibiki's smile couldn't get any bigger as he barely inclined his head.

The Chunin raised the temperature by 15 degrees this time.

"So what will it be?"

Many Genin dropped out, and to Ibiki's immense surprise Naruto raised his hand, before he slammed it down on his desk, hard.

"Screw you!" he yelled at Ibiki, "I don't care if I have to stay a Genin forever, I'll find a way to become Hokage anyway!"

Ibiki watched the tension in the room vanish, and he internally released the breath he'd been holding.

"_Damn brat probably doesn't even realize how close I came to a heart attack right now,"_ he thought.

Ibiki looked around the room, seeing no more hand go in the air.

"Congratulations. You have passed the first test of the Chunin Exams."

"WHAT?" Temari screeched at him, "What was the point of the questions then?"

"They were to test you information gathering skills," Everybody heard a dull thump and saw Naruto's face on his desk, "there were several Chunin seeded around the room who already had all the answers. As for the last question itself? Well the choice was the question. There will not always be a safe route to accomplish the mission," Ibiki reached up and undid his bandana, letting it fall, "There will be situation were if you are caught, then the enemy will torture you so they can get what information they can out of you."

Ibiki redid his bandana, "Now it's time for you to get ready for-"

The glass on the window shattered to reveal a tarp that and a woman who stood in front of it who had very little on. She had purple hair tied back in a very messy pony tail, and she wore a fishnet shirt and a tan skirt that left little to imagination.

"Early," Ibiki started, "Anko."

She glared at him, "All right brats, I'm Mitarashi Anko, and I will be the proctor for the second exam! Follow me!"

With that she jumped out of the window.

As everybody left Ibiki voice rang out, "Naruto, over here, NOW!"

"Why the hell do you keep singling me out?!" Naruto hollered at him.

Ibiki made sure everyone had left, "It's helps your credibility kid."

Ibiki could see the kid struggling with the word and sighed, "It means that it makes you a little more intimidating kid."

"Oh."

"As for the reason I wanted to speak to you," Ibiki stood up, "I want you to have another appointment with me after the second exam, and no you don't have a choice."

Naruto pouted, "Well, I've got another exam to take."

Ibiki laid a hand on Naruto's shoulder, "Let me."

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Anko, however, was giving a speech to the Genin as they gathered in front of a large forested area, "Welcome to training area 44, or as we call it here in Konoha, The Forest of Death!"

"Now, you'll need to get," She stopped when she felt something approaching and threw a kunai.

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Naruto felt himself land in a cloud of smoke with Ibiki's hand on his shoulder. When the cloud cleared, he had only just managed to dodge the kunia that had just burst out of the smoke in front of him. He felt a trail of blood ran down his left cheek when he felt somebody come up behind him a grab him, and he felt something wet against his cheek.

Ibiki sweatdropped at the little display Anko was giving, she looked at him, "Oh, Ibiki-kun, you didn't need to bring me a new toy to play with!" She then whipped out a kunai and held it against the neck of a Kusa Ninja with long black hair that had come up behind her.

"You shouldn't sneak up on people in a village full of ninja," Anko said, more seriously, "It could get you killed."

"I'm sorry, but you dropped your kunai," the Kusa ninja said, holding the kunai with an extremely long tongue.

Anko went back to the front, "All right everyone, come up front and get a waiver!"

"What do we need a waiver for, Anko-san?" Naruto asked

"So you brats if any of you brats die in there, it's not Konoha's fault," she smiled, showing all of her teeth.

After everyone one had turned in a waiver, Anko spoke, "Alright, the test is to try and get a scroll from an opposing team. One half of you maggots will have the earth scroll while the other half will have the heaven scroll," she had the teams come up to her after she had set up a privacy screen.

After everyone had gotten their scrolls, the Genin all got in front of their respective gate, Anko stood before the crowd, "Second Exam, BEGIN!"


	6. Chapter 6, Snake Skin

I Do Not Own Naruto

I Do Not Own Naruto

A/N Anybody want free writing tips? Here's one. Keep your personal opinions out of your writing. Writing a story is like painting a picture, keep that in mind when you write, and remember kiss. Keep It Simple Stupid. I quit reading any story that says "(name) went off to excrete" rather than "(name) went to take a shit."

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Team 7 had been in the dark forest for about a day now. They were walking single file: Naruto in front, Sasuke in the middle, and Sakura in the back. The theory was sound in everybody's opinion save Naruto: Naruto as a meat shield, Sasuke to mop up, and Sakura as support.

They had also decided who should hold their earth scroll: Sasuke.

They walked through the forest, Sakura and Sasuke were on high alert, while Naruto looked like he didn't have a care in a world, the truth? He didn't have a care in the world, save one.

"What's up Naruto?" Sakura asked as Naruto stopped.

"I gotta piss," Naruto said with a pink tinge on his cheeks, he walked over to the nearest tree.

"BAKA!!" Sakura's fist connected solidly with the top of Naruto's head, "Don't do that in front of a lady!"

"All right! Sheesh," Naruto nursed the top of his head as he walked further off.

He did his business, and he started to wander back when he felt something off, he turned just in time to see a giant snake's jaws close on him, "OH COME ON!"

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Anko was munching on her favorite treat: Dango. As she at them off the stick she would fling the pick at the tree to her right, slowly a symbol started to form: the symbol of the leaf.

She let on a satisfied smile when she finished, "Anko!"

Anko saw one of the Chunin proctoring the exam run up to her, "You need to see this!"

Wanting to see what the fuss was about she followed the Chunin to a spot a ways off from the main village near one of the shrines.

Anko saw three bodies that, from their state of dress, she knew belonged to the ninja from Kusa.

She turned the bodies over to see that their faces looked like they had been melted off, the bodies appeared to have been dead for several weeks.

"Shit!" Anko cried as she recognized the work, "Notify ANBU!" she barked at the Chunin, "Orochimaru has returned."

With that she sped into the forest.

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Naruto was not having a good day, unless your good day including getting eaten by a snake.

"_Not like this," _Naruto thought, _"I don't want my remains to be my jumpsuit found in a steaming pile of snake shit!"_

"_Fine," _Naruto thought with a sadistic smirk, _"You want something to eat?" _Naruto struggled to make a hand seal, _"__**Tajuu Kage Bushin no Jutsu!**__"_

With that the snake exploded as several hundred Naruto's suddenly filled it stomach, many poofing out of existence by the sheer force of the explosion.

"_Gotta find Sakura and Sasuke," _Naruto thought, panicking at the thought of those two being alone with things like this snake out here.

He took of to the trees as the rest of his clones dispelled.

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Kabuto frowned as he watched Naruto run from the scene. He was hoping to coax some of whatever Naruto's bloodline might be, only to have the blond unwittingly slip out of his trap without even so much as a _hint _of a bloodline.

He hit the ground next to him in frustration, the only thing he could do now was watch and wait. Anything more would give away his position.

Kabuto hoped that his contact was doing better at getting information on the Uchiha. While Kabuto understood his master's need for an Uchiha, if Kabuto was honest with himself, the blond interested him more.

He wanted to be the first to witness this unknown bloodline in action, for his own reasons as well as getting information back to his master.

He quietly followed Naruto as he contemplated what else he could do.

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Sarutobi was nervous, he just gotten a report from a Chunin that Anko suspected that Orochimaru was here.

While he had an idea, remembering Orochimaru's absurd dream of mastering every jutsu out there, and it bothered him that there was nothing he could do about it without arousing his wayward student's suspicion.

"_Orochimaru," _Sarutobi thought sadly, _"Why have you come home?"_

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Naruto was furious at what he Sasuke do. In an attempt to buy his freedom he had thrown the earth scroll they had to this strange ninja. When he saw Sasuke throw it he did the first thing that came to mind: Catch it.

"Naruto, what are you doing?!" Sasuke started, "This guy, Orochimaru, is on a whole different level from-" Sasuke didn't finish as Naruto socked him right in the face.

"Coward," Naruto spat, "There's no guarantee that he will let us go if we do give it to him if he's on such a different level."

"Ah, yes," the ninja said, "Naruto-kun does have a point Sasuke-kun."

Naruto got a good look at the ninja, he had pale skin that matched the skin under Naruto's bandages, yellow eyes with small slits in them, and long black hair. He wore a plain white outfit that had a purple ribbon on the back of it.

"How do you know me, freak?" Naruto bit at Orochimaru.

"Oh, he's got a bit of fight in him," Orochimaru smiled, "A lot of people know about you, Naruto-kun," Naruto was bewildered by the comment, "but unfortunately, I do not need you right now."

Naruto felt a pressure in his gut as his feet left the ground and he sailed off the branch, still clutching the scroll he'd caught. He saw Orochimaru where he had been standing with his hand in a fist.

Naruto felt a rage when he saw the man summon a snake and charged Sasuke. He met the snake just in front of Sasuke, holding the snake back with just two kunai, "Coward," Naruto snarled as he looked up, his left eye now blood red, "you are not Sasuke. The Sasuke I know would not be stuck here like some scared rabbit."

Naruto felt something slither around his middle and he was lifted off the ground. He was turned to face Orochimaru, and Naruto saw it was the man's tongue that held him

"I wonder," Orochimaru smirked, "Gogyo Fuuin!"

Naruto felt a pressure in his gut again before his world went black.

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A great beast stirred, it's nine tails twitched behind it in agitation as a sudden shockwave hit it.

It shifted slightly but did not wake.

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Sakura was struggling to get Naruto on the branch, it was difficult because for an odd reason, his skin felt like soft rubber. At odd times it would shift as she tried to hoist him up, like a blister.

After the snake-man hit him, Naruto had then passed out. Orochimaru, as he called himself, tossed Naruto aside. Seeing that her teammate might fall to his death, Sakura through a kunia to catch Naruto against the tree.

She then heard a yell and turned to see Orochimaru's head pull back from Sasuke's neck.

He then vanished, saying something about Sasuke seeking him for power.

She kept struggling to lift Naruto onto the branch, "You baka," she growled as she closed her eyes, "If you didn't eat so much ramen this might be-" she heard a sickening tear and landed flat on her butt.

She opened hers eyes to look at Naruto half open eye lid.

She could see the forest behind it.

She screamed at tossed the weight off of her and watched as Naruto's flesh fluttered grotesquely in the breeze as it blew away.

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Anko was washing herself from the short battle she had had with Orochimaru in a small stream that ran through area 44.

She sighed as she thought about the fight. After all these years, she still couldn't match up to her mentor.

She sighed dejectedly. She turned and saw something floating down stream towards her.

Curious she picked it up and saw the flesh of one Uzumaki Naruto.

Anko dropped the skin in shock, _"Please, No."_


	7. Chapter 7, End of the Second Exam

I Do Not Own Naruto

I Do Not Own Naruto

A/N Let's be frank here. I've put out a chapter nearly everyday, and two chapters in a day last time. While I'm thrilled that you like my story, it's not cool to demand an update the day after two updates came out, or to demand an update in general.

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Naruto groaned as he came to. He sat up and put his head in his hands, nursing, trying to remember what happened. He remembered getting hit by Orochimaru, and then passing out.

He set his arms on his knees, barely noting how pale he was right now. He felt a dull ache in his, well, everywhere. His skin felt like it had received a bad burn and was recovering from it.

He looked at his hands, his eyes widened as he saw blood all over his hand. He wiped some of it back and finally saw his skin's change. Both his hands were pale, the same tone as the snake-man, and Naruto could see faintly a black, intricate pattern showing just under the skin. He could only imagine what his face looked like.

He looked at his bare legs, _"Wait, what?"_ Naruto's eyes traced up his ankle, _"No shoes," _his eyes kept tracing up his legs, _"No pants,"_ his eyes traced up his thighs and he blushed, _"Oh, this could be a problem."_

Naruto looked to make sure nobody was around, seeing nobody he let out a sigh of relief, _"At least there's nobody to see me like this."_

Naruto did a quick scour of the area for anything to wear. Unfortunately, the only thing he found was the earth scroll that must have fallen with him, "_Well that's damn near pointless,__" _Naruto's ever-present inner echo said.

"Hey, at least the freak didn't get the scroll," Naruto spoke aloud, "Which means if I can find Sakura and Sasuke and either they get or I find a heaven scroll, we can still pass."

"_What about keeping your dignity?__" _the echo asked.

"Hey, as long as it's nobody I know," Naruto said as he looked around again, "I'm good."

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Kabuto had watched Naruto fall. He couldn't make heads or tails of what he'd just seen. The brat had just _torn _through his own flesh, like the weight was too much.

He thought about the situation concerning Naruto's bloodline. What was happening to the boy? He'd seen the technique his master had used on Naruto. Gogyo Fuuin. The five point seal.

The technique was usually used to block somebody's chakra off, but was different in the case of people who already had seals.

He'd could barely see where Orochimaru-sama had placed the seal. He had placed over the seal which held the beast. So in theory…

Kabuto's eyes widened, _"The beast was blocking the bloodline."_

Kabuto got close to get a good look at Naruto. The brat's skin was pale and bloody, and his hair was matted in his own gore. The fact that the brat had no clothes on only helped him to do a quick diagnosis.

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"Shit, how long have I been out?" Naruto asked himself as he moved stealthily in the trees.

"_I don't know, boss, I see the world as you do,__" _the echo responded.

Naruto jumped from branch to branch, slipping several times as he tried to stick using chakra.

"What the hell's going on," Naruto though as he slowed enough for him to keep his balance.

He stopped when he heard voices, "We've been in this forest for days now, and we haven't seen anybody," the first voice said.

"Let's take a short rest," the second voice said.

"It's getting late, so it's a good idea," a third feminine voice said.

Naruto hid in the branches and saw a team from Kusa that was setting camp. He sat observing them for a while. He smirked after they started to go to sleep, the girl was to keep first watch.

Naruto made a seal, "**Kage Bushin no Jutsu**."

Two other clones popped in beside him, Naruto paused as he got a good look at his face for the first time. Both of his eyes were the pale, solid yellow, and the pattern he could see was darkest around his eyes, though nowhere near a dark as his birthmarks. He was also covered in blood.

Naruto shook his head. Now was not the time to be checking himself out. With a nod the two clones and Naruto set out.

They slipped quietly into the camp, first checking out the first unused tent, the girl's tent. Not finding anything of use, the clones slipped out one by one to the boys tent. After a quick knockout, Naruto took a pair of black pants out of one of the boys pack. He slipped it on, and looked for a scroll.

Cursing out loud, Naruto found another earth scroll. Not wanting to be laden down further, he just left it and after dispelling his clones, he was able to sneak off quietly. With pants this time.

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Naruto sat down as the sun set, watching it from high in the trees. He sighed.

"_If they didn't call me demon before," _he though glumly, _"They certainly will now."_

"_Why do you even care what they think?__"_ a new echo said sadly, sounding similar to the first echo in Naruto's head.

"Oh no," Naruto groaned.

"_Hey boss, It speaks!__"_ Naruto's first voice said, _"__I'm gonna call him "It"!__"_

"_It's not like there's anything to gain. If they had the chance they'd take everything important away from you,__"_ the newly dubbed "It" continued ignoring the other voice.

"Shut up, bastard!" Naruto said, "You don't know a damn thing!"

It went silent.

"_Oh, come on!__" _the echo said, _"__Don't go silent on me now!__"_

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Kabuto watched the scene for a while. He was sorting everything away for later use. The brat obviously heard thing nobody else could hear.

His outburst at time could be random, but they were always specific to an individual.

Kabuto felt it was about time to reveal himself, as Orochimaru-sama wanted both boys in the finals. So all three were going to have to make it, and Naruto was going the wrong way. He was going away from the tower.

He walked towards Naruto, "Naruto-kun! You know it's a bad habit to get into, talking to nobody who is there."

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Naruto turned as he heard Kabuto's voice, let out a growl. Kabuto was really starting to get on his nerves.

He turned and looked Kabuto in the eyes and felt something snap inside him again.

Kabuto saw him, "Well, what's this?" He said as he saw how Naruto looked right now.

"A diagnosis later, Kabuto-san," Naruto said quietly, "I need to find my team and finish this test. What are you doing here anyway?"

"Oh, I'm volunteering right now," Kabuto smiled as he pushed up his glasses. Seeing Naruto's confusion he said, "I overheard a conversation between two Jounins about Orochimaru in the area and went to look for people who may have run into him. It looks like it could be the case for you."

"The scary thing Kabuto-san," Naruto looked down, "I don't even know who's blood this is."

Suddenly there was a spike of malevolent chakra in the area, feeling this, both Naruto and Kabuto took off towards it.

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Anko was a mess as she talked with the Hokage, pleading with him to look for Naruto.

"Now, Anko-san," Sarutobi started, "I told you about getting attached to your mission, and your mission ended years ago."

"I can't help it, old man," Anko yelled at him, "the brat grows on you. I don't know if he even remembers me. We've got to find him! If that snake-bastard took him…"

"Anko!" Sarutobi's voice took on a hard tone, "We both know that you cannot take on Orochimaru, as much was proven when you fought him."

Sarutobi sighed as he took a drag from his pipe, "As much as I pains me to say, Anko, we must wait out this storm."

Anko slumped in defeat. Sarutobi said quietly, "I don't think Naruto forgot you. He's never forgotten anybody who's done him a good turn, Anko. He never knew your name, but he was called you Hebi-chan. That was better than Kakashi got, Kakashi was Inu-teme."

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Naruto and Kabuto appeared on scene to see Sasuke black out, strange black marks receding from the body, Sakura was holding him, crying quietly.

Naruto stepped forward, while Kabuto hung back, his eyes wide, _"Why would you give him that seal, Orochimaru-sama?"_ he thought to himself, _"If that killed him, what would you do about your next body?"_

"Sakura-chan?" Naruto said quietly, "It's me Naruto, don't look up until you're ready. I'm quite a mess."

Sakura started to look up and stopped at Naruto's feet.

"Sakura-chan, what happened?"

"We got attacked by Oto genin," she started quietly, "They were going to kill me when Sasuke-kun woke up. He attacked them, but he was different. He was enjoying their pain when he fought. He broke one of the genin's arms just because of the guy's bloodline. They gave us the heaven scroll," she looked a little farther up, but stopped.

"We have both scrolls now," Naruto set down the earth scroll in front of her, "Kabuto-san found me. I'll lead, with you in back. Kabuto-san will take care of Sasuke. He lies when he says it's not going to hurt, but he is a medic. Sakura, I know it's bad, but you need to focus, Sasuke's counting on you, I-he needs you to be alert while we move, alright? We're going straight for the tower."

Naruto walked passed her, noting she never saw his face.

"Are we all ready?" hearing Kabuto's and Sakura's affirmative he took off at a quick pace.

"Kabuto-san," Naruto started, "When you came back, did you notice anyone else near the tower?"

"No, Naruto-kun," Kabuto said, "It's almost the end of the 5th day, most of the teams have given up."

"Alright, we're going higher," Naruto called back, "Hopefully we'll avoid anybody this way."

A couple hours later, they arrived at the tower.

"I have to catch up with my team now, Naruto-kun," Kabuto said as he handed Sasuke over to Naruto, "I hope you make it all the way!"

With that, Kabuto left to find his team.

After reading a riddle on a plague, Sakura decided they should open the scrolls. Naruto set Sasuke down.

Naruto and Sakura both took a scroll, Sakura being careful not to look at Naruto's face. She didn't want look into his eyes only to see the stone walls behind him. She didn't know how much more she could take.

On three they opened their scrolls. They started to smoke and Naruto threw his scroll down, Sakura falling suit.

Iruka popped out smiling, "Well looks like you guys made it just in time," he said smiling, his eyes closed as he let out a long sigh of relief.

"Hey Iruka-sensei," Naruto said smiling.

Iruka turned toward Naruto as he opened his eyes, "Hey, Narut-HOLY SHIT!"

"Do you think we could get a couple of medics down here?"


	8. Chapter 8, Haohmaru

I Do Not Own Naruto

I Do Not Own Naruto

A/N Looking for anybody who can translate to Japanese, thank you. As for something that happens in this chapter, I had planned it like this, it wasn't inspired by the review. You'll know who you are when you read it. Sorry for the late update. Pc died. Doing a little bit of tweaking on the bloodline still, but almost completely finished.

_Thoughts_

"_Echo", "It"_

"Speaking"

**Jutsu**

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Naruto sat talking with Iruka while the medics fell over themselves working on the Uchiha. The extent of Naruto's checkup was only when one medic came by and ran a diagnostic jutsu, "Brat's fine," was all he said before he hurried back over to Sasuke. He hardly batted an eyelash at Naruto's physical state.

"When I'm Hokage," Naruto said quietly, "The medical system is getting an overhaul."

Iruka could only nod, "It seems petty doesn't it?"

"I still wish I could take a shower before we have to show up for the ending speech," Naruto chuckled, "Man, I can't wait to see the look on everyone's faces."

His face dropped, "Why me, Iruka-sensei?"

"Your guest?" Iruka asked.

"No," Naruto looked down, "My face."

"I remember when you were younger Naruto, when I first explained bloodlines," Iruka began, "You shouted about how cool it would be to have one. Unfortunately you're learning first-hand that not all bloodlines are pretty."

"How did you?" Naruto started.

"People don't just start to physically change for nothing," Iruka explained, "In Konoha, most of the bloodlines we have here are very small physical changes: The Sharingan and the Byakugan for example. Outside Konoha there are many more, an example being the now extinct Kaguya clan. They had the ability to manipulate their bones, to a fascinating and macabre degree, reports claimed that a Kaguya could make a sword from their own spine."

"I don't even know what mine can do," Naruto sighed, "I could live with it a little better if I just knew what it did."

"For that I can't tell you," Iruka said, thinking for a moment, "You're just going to have to experiment."

"Huh?"

"Well," Iruka started thinking again, "When you notice something new, or anything weird, play with it. See what you can do."

"All right," Naruto paused, "Hey Iruka-Sensei?"

"Yeah?"

"Can I borrow your Hitai-ate until I can get I new one? I sorta lost mine," Naruto grinned as he scratched the back of his head.

Iruka just smiled as he took of his Hitai-ate and handed it to Naruto.

A new voice interrupted the peaceful moment, "Hey, Dead-last, take off the makeup."

Uchiha Sasuke had just come to.

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All the Genin that had passed were gathered in the main room, and yet Naruto never felt so isolated before. Now he couldn't joke with people or hold an intelligent conversation without people gawking, so he just stayed away from the group. By some miracle all of the Konoha teams made it through.

"ALL TEAMS LINE-UP!" Anko's voice called over the group.

Naruto stayed in the back as he tied the Hitai-ate around his head, every so often a Genin would throw him a horrified look.

"The Hokage would like to make an announcement," Anko called, she stepped back studying the group, looking for Naruto.

Only a pale-skinned Genin stood out, and Anko didn't remember seeing him at all when the waivers were turned in. She didn't think Naruto had been killed, as the rest of his team were here and all members required to pass.

Sarutobi stepped up, "Congratulations on passing the second exam. All of you are a great asset to your village. Since the last great war, the exams have been a medium for villages to compete without war. As such the next part of the test," Sarutobi was interrupted.

"Excuse me, cough Hokage-sama," A sickly looking man said, "As I am the proctor maybe I should cough explain?"

"Very well," Sarutobi said with a nod.

"cough All right. I am Hayate. We cannot proceed to cough next part of the exam as there are too many people," the Genin grumbled to themselves, "there will be a cough preliminary set of one-on-one matches. Before cough we begin, is there anybody who wishes to drop out?"

Naruto watched Kabuto raise his hand, "I am still low on chakra and need a chance to recover. I must regretfully drop out."

Naruto watched in horror as the second person raised her hand, "I cannot finish this exam, I can't focus right now because of what happened to my teammates," Sakura finished.

Hayate nodded his head, "Anyone else?"

Seeing no one Hayate sighed, "We have a odd number, one Genin will be seeded and one other Genin will have to fight twice. The winner of the first match will fight against the seeded Genin after the other match's have taken place to keep it fair. This board," he motioned the wall behind him that had what looked like a scoreboard, "will pick names at random. The preliminary's have begun."

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The board lit up running through names.

The first name stopped, Uzumaki Naruto.

The second name stopped, Inuzuka Kiba.

"All right, we got somebody easy!" Kiba shouted when he jumped down.

Naruto, meanwhile, cursed his luck. While he wanted to fight both times, he also wanted to stay out of everyone's sight for a while as well. Naruto just sighed as he walked into the arena.

Kiba stared at Naruto, before he started laughing, "Dead-last thinks he can scare us, eh, Akamaru?"

The dog on his head whined, "What, you're actually intimidated?"

The dog whined again, "His own blood? What hell? Won't make a difference either way. Let's end this quick, Akamaru!"

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"What happened to your student, Kakashi," Kurenai asked with definite venom in her voice.

"I have a few guesses Kurenai-san," Kakashi said quietly, "None of which I'm entitled to divulge."

"Kyuubi?" Kurenai's voice dipped dangerously.

"No, if only it were that simple," Kakashi said.

"Whatever, he won't win against Kiba," Kurenai said smugly.

"Really?" Kakashi asked.

"Of course," Kurenai smiled, "Kiba's specialty is one-on-one fights, Taijutsu."

"Care to make a wager?"

"Sure, I win, I burn every one of those damn books in front of you, you win, I train your students for a week," Kurenai smiled.

"Done," Kakashi said with an eye smile.

They heard Kiba's voice come up from the arena, "Call the match proctor, he's knocked out."

Kurenai held her hand out.

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Kiba started to walk off when Naruto's voice called out, "Kiba, was it?"

Kiba turned towards Naruto shocked, "How?"

"The boss may be knocked out, but I'm not," Naruto grinned evilly, "I'm not Naruto," he said noticing Kiba's confusion, "call me Haohmaru."

"_Why even bother?__" _it said quietly, _"__It isn't ever gonna matter anyway.__"_

"_Shut up It,"_ Haohmaru thought, _"This is the boss's dream, and we should help him achieve it. Look in on the new guy while you're at it, and let me conce-"_ Haohmaru's thoughts were cut short as Kiba's fist crashed into his face.

"Wow," Haohmaru started laughing, while holding his bloody nose, "You've got some serious force behind your punches."

Haohmaru looked up towards the stands looking for the blond he'd seen almost a week prior, finally he spotted her with her team and speaking with Sakura, "Hey, watch me!"

Kiba growled in frustration at "Haohmaru's" apparent lack of interest, and followed through with another punch. This time, however, he felt something grip his hand, only for a brief moment. When he pulled his fist back, he felt as though something was crawling up his arm.

Haohmaru looked back at Kiba, his face full of seriousness, "Fine, time to end this."

Kiba felt the sensation hit his elbows, and he fed Akamaru a soldier pill.

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Sakura looked at the blond she was talking to, "Naruto's really going at it, now."

"Why the interest forehead?" the blond said in a mocking tone.

"He's my teammate, Ino-pig!" Sakura shot back at the blond she'd be talking to.

Shikamaru looked at her with a bored expression, "It's all right to think about your teammates, Ino. Troublesome girl"

Ino fist connected solidly with the top of Shikamaru's head.

"I'll have to admit that the makeup-" Ino started.

"That's not makeup, Ino-pig," Sakura said quietly, getting Chouji and even Shikamaru to lean in to listen.

"What?"

"When we were in the forest there was a weird man," Sakura said quietly, "He did something to Sasuke-kun and Naruto."

"He did something to Sasuke-kun?!" Ino started, almost ready to run over to the boy now.

"Ino! Sasuke-kun is fine, whatever he did to Naruto was worse," Sakura said, on the verge of tears, "Naruto and Sasuke-kun both passed out from the attacks. I tried to get Naruto up on the branch we were on, but his skin, it, it," tears started to openly come down her cheeks now, "He fell out of his own skin, Ino! I heard it tear, and I was left holding only Naruto's skin!"

Ino and her teammates looked over at Naruto in horror, _"What happened to you, Naruto?"_

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Anko was livid. She'd seen the screen pop up with the names and didn't expect _this_.

"_Orochimaru," _she thought vehemently, _"I'll find out what you did to my little Naruto-kun, and I'm going to find him after I kill you!"_

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Kiba had felt a stinging in his eyes for a while now, and it was driving him mad. He was also beating the dead-last to a pulp, and he kept getting back up. He drew a kunai, intent on making this the final blow.

"_Maybe," _he thought, _"If I get rid of this bastard, Hinata-chan will notice me."_

He charged Haohmaru, looking him dead in the eyes, and felt his world shift.

The world he stood in was now black and white, and he saw Akamaru latch onto Haohmaru's arm, "Way to go, Akamaru! Hold him for me so I can slit his throat!"

Then he saw Haohmaru pull his hand out of Akamaru's mouth, withdrawing a bloody Kunia.

Akamaru slumped on the floor, bleeding copiously from the wound. Kiba dropped his kunai out of shock, "Akamaru?"

He ran over to the puppy, and kneeled by him, turning him over.

"Akamaru?" He saw the eyes twitch, and start to open.

"Akamaru!" Kiba hugged the puppy happily, then he heard the puppy growl.

Kiba backed away as he saw Akamaru advance on him. He saw the dead yellow eyes, the same eyes as Uzumaki, and a long scar running vertical of the puppy's right eye. Great black tendril were feeding off from behind the puppy, swinging wildly, before moving to strike him, then he felt his world go black.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

Everyone was in shock after hearing Kiba's declaration. They watched on in morbid fascination as the boy reacted to a things nobody else could see.

Haohmaru walked up to Kiba and leaned down next to him, "I'm sorry Kiba," was all he said before he knocked him out.

Haohmaru coughed up blood and looked at his hand. He looked at Hayate expectantly, "Winner, Uzumaki Naruto!"

Haohmaru then promptly passed out.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

Naruto came to hearing his Echo, and the loving dubbed it arguing, _"__What the hell was that about, It?__" _the echo was yelling at It, _"__We want to help the boss, not kill anybody!__"_

"_I did what I had to, Haohmaru,__" _It replied, stressing the name for sarcasm, _"__Anyway, boss, you won the first match and are about to fight again soon. They're rolling names now.__"_

Naruto looked up at the board.

Uzumaki Naruto vs Yamanaka Ino.


	9. Chapter 9, Sanitarium

I Do Not Own Naruto

A/N NaruHarem. Personal thoughts on this, while if done WELL can make a good story, it's damn nigh impossible to do. The last girlfriends I had would rip my balls off without so much as a second thought if I EVER suggested it, and most were too possessive to have thoughts of "sharing". My thoughts on where this comes in? Ino comes across as that type of girl, sorry anybody who wanted that.

If this chapter looks different it's because since restoring my hard drive I do not have Microsoft Word, there's a lesson here, always keep your stories backed up on a portable.

_Thoughts_

_Haohmaru, It_

"Speaking"

**Jutsu**

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

"Yip! Yip!" Kiba came to hearing a small dog bark.

"Wha?" He said as he felt something small on his chest, and then he felt a small tongue start to lick his face.

"Akamaru?" Kiba was afraid to open his eyes.

"Yip!" the small bark sounded again.

Kiba opened his eyes and saw Akamaru sitting on top of his chest, licking at his face, "Akamaru!" Kiba grabbed the puppy and put him in a hug, making the puppy let out a squeak as air was forced out of it's lungs.

"You know," a woman's voice said from the side of the bed, "Akamaru can't breathe."

Kiba turned to see his sensei, "Kurenai-sensei!" he cried out as he saw her, his voice fell when he saw the look on her face.

"Sensei?" he asked uncomfortably.

"You said some terrible things in the arena today," she said with full seriousness, "As such, I should have you stripped of your rank and privilages, but I will leave that to your teammates."

With that she left the room, only to have his own mother walk in, "Hi mom!"

A loud slap echoed through the room.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO\

Uzumaki Naruto vs. Yamanaka Ino

Naruto blinked as he read the board. He turned to look at Ino who was pale.

"_Aw man,__" _Haohmaru said quietly, _"__We have to fight the pretty lady, boss.__"_

"Doesn't mean we should go easy either," Naruto chuckled as he wandered down to the arena.

"_Come on!__" _Haohmaru continued to plead, _"__Just a little?__"_

"No," Naruto stated flatly.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

"What the hell was that for, mom!" Kiba's head jerked back in surprise when her hand connected to his face. He rubbed his cheek only to have his mother follow up by decking him.

"What is the first rule of the clan, Kiba!" his mother's voice sounded harshly.

"To obey the alpha!" Kiba dodged franticly as his mother pounced on him, intent on beating him into a pulp.

"Who is the alpha!" She yelled at him as she took another swipe.

"You are, Mom!" Kiba tried to duck, only to have his mother's knee connect with his nose.

"WRONG!" she screamed at him, "THE ALPHA IS THE HOKAGE!"

She landed on him holding her fist just above Kiba's head, "Who are your packmates?" her voice dropped dangerously.

"M-my brothers and sisters of the clan?" Kiba replied weakly.

His mother's fist connected with Kiba's already broken nose, spraying blood all over the room and herself, "Your packmates are other Konoha shinobi!" she got up, "It doesn't matter what your quarrel is with the Uzumaki brat, but it is not tolerated to ever threaten your packmates. If they threaten you, they are your packmates no more. Did the Uzumaki brat threaten you?"

"No," Kiba's weak reply came.

"Did he steal from you?"

"No."

"Has he done anything directly to cause you harm?"

"No."

"Then," she said with a tone of finality, "I should have you exiled from the clan, but you are young and stupid. I will only let this slide once. Never threaten the pack again, boy."

With that Kiba's mother left her son to his own thoughts.

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Naruto smiled a wide smile to Ino, "Let's make this a good fight, Ino!"

Ino shot a shakey smile back him, finding Naruto's smile quite disturbing, "Y-y-yeah!"

Hayate looked between the two, "Match between Uzumaki Naruto and Yamanaka Ino, BEGIN!"

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Kakashi thought quietly to himself after he had seen Kurenai leave to check up on her student with a grave expression on her face.

What was he going to do with a free week? He was running through options in his head.

It would give him a good excuse to get Sasuke apart from the others so he could properly train the boy. He wanted to teach him Chidori. Since Sasuke had made it into the finals he didn't want the boy to have to face anything less than absolutely prepared.

He would make absolutely sure that he would honor Obito's memory, and he would not let the last of the clan die.

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Naruto and Ino had jumped away from each other when the Proctor had started the match, both focused solely on each other.

Naruto threw Kunai and began to charge, and Ino smirked to herself, _"this will be easy!"_

She made a single hand seal, _"Ok, now find his Chakra, and...holy crap! How much chakra does that baka have?!"_

Naruto drew closer as Ino focused for her families best known technique.

"**Shintenshin no Jutsu!**"

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Kiba sat quietly by himself as he let the healers do their job. He thought about everything his mother had told him. When she had drilled the clan rules into his head, he had thought that had only applied to his clan, not the whole village.

Feeling his sinuses clear up he thanked the healers as they walked away.

He then saw the one person he dreaded seeing, _"Hinata."_

Bracing himself for what he knew was coming he just awaited his fate.

Another slap sounded through the hospital.

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Ino found herself in a very different place than when she normally saw herself. Usually when the Jutsu was used, she wound up in the other body, looking out from the other person's eyes. Instead she had found herself in what appeared to be a sewer.

She looked around and saw strange black growths that had tendrils that grew out of them and were leeching into a large blue pipe that ran through the roof.

"_What's going on?" _she thought to herself, panicking a little at the unfamiliar situation, _"Where am I?"_

She felt something grab around her middle and heard a voice, "This one shouldn't be here. I'm going to have a little bit of fun.," she heard a sick note in the voice as she looked down, and saw a black tendril around her middle.

Ino screamed.

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Everyone watched on in curiosity as Ino and Naruto both slumped, with Naruto getting back up moments later and rushing to Ino's body.

"Pretty lady's in trouble!" they heard his frantic cry.

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Ino felt the tendrils bringing her closer to one of the strange growths, showing a strange slit along the top of it. It started to open up quietly, showing Naruto's face, only pale, with a pair of glasses perched on the nose, "Why are you here?" the face asked quietly as another tendril came closer, revealing a strange sharp claw at the end of it.

"Why are you here?" it asked again as it pressed the blade against Ino's neck.

Ino wimpered as she felt blood began to seep from her neck.

"I won't as-" the face began again when a voice rang out, "Leave her alone!"

Ino saw fist connect squarely between the eyes of the face, forcing it to drop her, "Ino-chan!" Naruto's voice cried franticly, "Get out of here!"

"I-I don't know if I can Naruto," Ino was crying.

"Shit," Naruto looked around, "Haohmaru!"

"Yes, boss?" a voice called out of the darkness.

"Get Ino-chan out of here!" Naruto cried as he dodge a slash form the tendril, "NOW DAMMIT!"

"Hey pretty lady!" Ino heard the voice again, "I look a lot like the other guy, but I'm a lot nicer, I'm going to get you back into your body, alright?"

Ino nodded weakly as she saw another tendril wrap around her a lot more gently, "Here we go!"

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

The crowd watched on as "Naruto" grabbed Ino's shoulders and saw the chakra spike around Naruto before spearing back into Ino, with strange black lines running through the chakra.

Ino saw Naruto's smiling face for just a moment when she blacked out.

Hayate looked on and held his hand, "Winner, Uzumaki Naruto."

Naruto smiled before he heard a new voice in his head, _"__You'll pay for this you bastard. I swear it.__"_

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Kabuto was storing away information as he watched the fight. Just the thing he needed to get to his master. This reaction was unheard of to a Yamanaka's ability. It would prove most useful to his master.

Unbeknownst to Kabuto, his master had watched the fight as well, _"Such a power," _he thought, _"I will have you Naruto-kun, I will have that power for the Oto!"_

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

Kiba walked slowly back to the arena, his head hung low. He knew he had done wrong. He just hoped he could make it up to Naruto, he would do anything. Everything and anything to repay his lost honor.

It was at this time Inuzuka Kiba had unknowingly sworn to hold somebody else before the village, choosing his own Alpha. His own Hokage.


	10. Chapter 10, Who are you?

I Do Not Own Naruto

A/N The reference is at the end of the chapter. The story is being updated. I replace the reference chapter with the update and move it down. I update nearly everyday, because I'm in college working part-time and currently on summer break. I personally find keeping the chapter at the end a little better because then it doesn't confuse people just getting into the story.

"_Thoughts"_

"_Haohmaru, It, Unknown__"_

"**Jutsu"**

"Speaking"

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

Naruto stood at attention with the other Genin who had won their matches as Hayate spoke, "All of you have one month to prepare cough for your final matches. All of you must come forward and cough pick a number out of this box to cough determine your first match. Uzumaki Naruto!"

Naruto stepped forward and picked a slip of paper from a small box on in Hayate's hand, "One," Naruto said with a grin.

The other proctors wrote Naruto's name in the "1" slot.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

Sakura watched the proceedings quietly, going over the matches in her mind. After Naruto had been Sasuke-kun's match. With that strange seal active, he was forced to rely entirely on Taijutsu. It had been a close match, but Sasuke-kun had made out in the end.

The next match had been a kid named Lee who had fought with that redhead from sand, _"If you talk out of line again, I'll kill you," _she remembered what he had said with a quiet whimper. While Lee had held his own for awhile, in the end the redhead had crushed his leg and arm with the sand, more than likely eliminating any chance of a Shinobi career.

Next had been the other boy from sand, the one with the kabuki paint. Almost the entire match had been deception. He had used puppets, of all things, to kill his opponent.

The blond girl from sand had fought with Tenten and one. Tenten was phenomenal with her ability with weapons, but all ranged attacks became useless as the blond specialized in wind jutsu. The blond won by knock-out.

Shikamaru, while lazy, had caught his opponent with the shadow jutsu that made the Nara famous, and knocked him out by forcing his opponent to slam his head repeatedly into the wall.

Neji and Hinata. That was not a fight at all. After a few well-placed jibes at Hinata's already low self-esteem, Hinata had forfeited her match.

"_What could I have done?" _Sakura thought quietly to herself,_ "Even Naruto had a trump that even he didn't know about," _Sakura thought quietly getting more depressed, _"There's only one thing I can do."_

Nobody saw the new determined look that had taken over Sakura's face.

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The Ranking looked like this:

Uzumaki Naruto \

Hyuuga Neji /Winner\Winner v. Winner of match 4

Uchiha Sasuke \Winner/

Sabaku no Gaara /

Nara Shikamaru \

Sabaku no Temari /

Sabaku no Kankuro v. Winner of match 3

All of the Genin left the building and Naruto took a stroll towards the hospital. He was going to pay Kiba and Ino a visit.

He mostly wanted to visit Ino to apologize about what had happened inside his mind. He didn't even know he had such dark people in his mind, and he wanted to make sure that there was no permanent damage done to either of them.

Naruto had a lot on his mind, and giving somebody a handicap, especially a comrade, was the absolute last possible thing he wanted to do to anybody.

He strolled along, humming tunelessly to himself, ignoring the odd looks he was given as he made to stop by his apartment. It was time for a long overdue shower.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

As the water fell down Naruto's back in crimson torrents, he noticed that there seemed to be an emptiness inside his head, as if something was missing.

He also had the distinct impression that a snake was coiled to strike, and it made him nervous.

Naruto turned off the water, and grabbed a black shirt with the leaf symbol on it and the pants he had stolen. He was off to the hospital to check up on his friends.

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"Orochimaru-sama," Kabuto's voice barely held firm, "I have been unable to procure documents that pertain to Uzumaki Naruto's mental condition, though he has been reported talking to apparently no one."

"That will have to do," Orochimaru's voice was cold, "I only rest easy that the Kyuubi brat doesn't understand it's newfound power yet."

Kabuto nodded quickly, "Your orders?"

"Proceed as planned, Kabuto-kun," Orochimaru smirked, "At this time in one month, Konoha will be nothing but ash."

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

Naruto was confused as he neared the hospital. He could see black tendrils flowing off of him and going somewhere, though he didn't know where.

The seemed to originate from his left hand, and they flowed almost like water. He could actually see that these tendrils worked both ways, some coming to him, and he was sending some out. Going against his better judgment, Naruto followed them.

Following the strange energy up several flights of stairs, Naruto eventually found his way barred by a large man with dirty blond hair, "You bastard!" Naruto felt a fist connect to his stomach, "What did you do to my daughter, Demon?"

Naruto jumped further back, not wanting to hurt the man, "Please, I just want to see some of my friends. I want to make sure that they're all right after our battles!" Naruto franticly called to the man.

"My daughter is not your friend, Bastard!" the man took a long sweep at Naruto, drawing shuriken in the process, "I'll get you for what you did to her!"

The man made to throw the shuriken when a voice called out, "Father, Stop!"

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Ino was in a strange place. It was quiet and peaceful. It was completely devoid of any kind of life or objects, but it felt alive. She looked around and saw a couple black tendrils flowing around the area.

"Where?" Ino started quietly.

"This is many places, Ino-chan," Naruto's voice called to her.

"Naruto?" Ino called.

"Close, but not quite. This is unexpected, isn't it pretty lady?" the voice called out.

"Who are you?" Ino called out, trying to find the source of the voice.

"You know," the voice quietly said, "The boss asked me the same thing when we first met, but I didn't have a name yet."

"What is your name?" Ino cried in frustration.

"Oh, that hurts, Ino-chan," the voice called out, "The boss called my name when he told me to help you."

Ino thought to herself, remembering the scene, _"Haohmaru! Get Ino-chan out of here!"_

"Bingo!" the voice called gleefully.

"Haohmaru?" Ino said uncertainly.

"Yep!" the voice obviously proud of itself, "Interesting here though. This place is calmer. There is no snoring to wake me up here."

"Haohmaru?" Ino called out again.

"Yeah?"

"What are you doing here?" Ino asked with a small voice.

"Well," Haohmaru sounded nervous, "I'm not really sure. I can still feel the boss, but I'm unable to go back."

Ino developed a tick, "What do you mean you can't go back?!" Ino screamed out.

"I don't know, all right!" Haohmaru spoke again, "So I guess," Haohmaru began slowly, "that I'm stuck here until I can figure out how to go back."

Ino thought that Haohmaru sounded a little too hopeful, "What do you think-"

"Boss Lady has to wake up now 'cause boss is in trouble!" Haohmaru interrupted Ino as she saw the world around her dissolve as she saw her own father draw shuriken and was about read to throw them at Naruto.

"Father, Stop!"

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

The man stopped and looked directly at Ino, "But Ino-chan, this bastard came back to finish the job!"

"DAD!" Ino screamed at her father, "Naruto saved me! He's get mental issues that had manifested when I tried to take over!"

The man relaxed slightly, "He does?" he turned back to Naruto who had his face down, "I let this slide for now, boy," the man dipped dangerously, "Say your apologies and get out of here brat!"

Naruto just grinned sheepishly at Ino, "Hey, Ino-chan."

Naruto was knocked to the ground as the man pounded him in the head, "Never talk to my daughter in such a familiar fashion. Got me brat?"


	11. Chapter 11, Learning with Ibiki

I Do Not Own Naruto

A/N FUCK. I knew I forgot somebody's fight, Shino's to be exact. Dammit. Okay, that will have to be covered in this chapter. Thank you to Kael Hyun for this information, also I couldn't remember who Shikamaru fought, so anonymity is a good thing isn't it? So the info on Shino won't be as good if I hadn't forgotten but hey, in Stephen King's novel Misery, in writing you can't cheat, so you have to go with what's already down.

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After a quick chat with Ino and a dirty look to her father, Naruto continued down the hallway, looking for a nurse for directions to Kiba's room. He walked quietly thinking about all the man had down.

"_Why do you try so hard, baka?__" _It spoke quietly in his mind, _"__After a display like that, the girl's bound to hate you.__"_

"What do you mean?" Naruto asked sharply, "I just wanted to check on a comrade, nothing else."

"_Oh,__"_ It said quietly, _"__I just assumed, that well...Nevermind.__"_

"Asshole," Naruto looked up and stopped at a room when he saw the name.

_Aburame Shino_

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"Father," Ino said quietly, "What was that about?"

"He hurt you," the man who attacked Naruto said in a cold voice, "He was coming here to finish the job."

"How can you even know that?" Ino asked angrily.

A nurse came in, "Inoichi-san, the Hokage would like to see later this afternoon."

"Yes," the man said with an edge to his voice.

Inoichi turned back to Ino, "I want you to stay away from him. That brat is dangerous."

Inoichi started to walk out when Ino's voice stopped him, "What has he done, Father?"

Inoichi thought for a moment before he answered, "He's killed many people, Ino."

With that Inoichi left.

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Naruto knocked on the door, waiting a reply. Hearing nothing he cautiously peeked his head in. What he saw startled him. Shino was in the bed, bandaged on most of his body, with an I.V. drip. Naruto walked quietly over to get a quick look at the charts.

"_Condition: Recovering," _Naruto read, _"Injuries include Chakra Exhaustion with several deep cuts along the abdomen and chest. Recovery expected in less than two days."_

Naruto let out a deep breath he didn't know he'd been holding, "N-naruto-kun?" he heard Hinata behind him as he heard the door click shut.

"Hey, Hinata-chan!" Naruto smiled as Hinata's face darkened, "What happened?"

"I-it was a d-double knock-out," Hinata spoke quietly as Naruto looked at Shino's body, "I-it didn't l-look bad u-until you had just woken u-up, Kurenai-s-sensei and myself he-elped him to the hospital quickly and q-quietly."

"The other?" Naruto asked.

"H-he died of s-severe ch-chakra exhaustion," Hinata had tears forming in her eyes.

Naruto started to walk out before putting a hand on Hinata's shoulder, "Hinata-chan, Shino will be okay, and Kiba too. I'm not sorry for the loss of the Oto nin. They threatened my teammates," Naruto smiled wide, "Why don't you come watch the finals though, I'm gonna kick Neji's ass!"

Hinata watched as Naruto left, _"I couldn't tell him."_

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Ibiki stood before the Hokage, "You want me to do what?"

"I want you to try and test Naruto's bloodline. It's hard enough finding somebody without the council calling for blood," Sarutobi took a long drag from his pipe, "I trust you more than anybody else, Ibiki-san. I'm sure Naruto would trust you not to do anything to drastic."

"You've gotten the prelims back on that Inuzuka brat I take it?" Ibiki asked with a growl.

"Yes," Sarutobi sighed, "The boy suffered from severe mental trauma, he's very lucky to come out as quick as he did. Medics say the only thing that stopped permanent damage is the fact that Naruto knocked him out when he did."

"Except he didn't call himself Naruto at the time, Sarutobi-sama," Ibiki chuckled a little, "The boy sounds like he has a disociative personality disorder (4) as well."

"Quite, but I've never seen these affects before," Sarutobi took several small puffs, "The council wants his blood, Ibiki. They didn't like him before and now they want him dead because they think the fox is getting control."

"I understand," Ibiki muttered, "I still don't like it though. Do you have any information back from his fight with the Yamanaka?"

"Unfortunately, no, but I am expecting Inoichi in shortly," Sarutobi set his pipe down, "He and I have to have a talk."

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Naruto was walking up to Kiba's room when he felt a presence behind him, he turned and saw an ANBU, "Can I help you ANBU-san?" Naruto asked, figuring what they wanted.

"I was sent by Ibiki-san to escort you to a meeting with him," a male voice responded.

"Can we skip the whole knocking out thing?" Naruto asked as the ANBU approached.

"Unfortunately, no," the voice said as Naruto felt the ANBU apply pressure to his neck and his world went black.

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Ibiki smirked slightly at his plan, Sarutobi-sama didn't specify how to try and figure the boy's bloodline so he had come up with a ingenious plan that allowed him to cause pain to the boy and test the boy's limits by his own accord. Ibiki was going to train the boy.

If any information regarding the current data on Naruto's bloodline was correct, and Ibiki's own theory was correct; the brat was going to need to know more about psychology. Ibiki called it a hunch.

A knock sounded at the door, "Yes?" Ibiki called.

"Naruto's here."

The monotone of the ANBU sounded.

"I said my name is Hanzo, DAMMIT!" Naruto's voice sounded through the door.

"Excellent, take him a meet with me at training ground 27," Ibiki said smiling darkly the entire time.

"_I can't help but feel almost sorry for the kid. Almost, this is going to be payback for what he did to my apartment," _Ibiki chuckled darkly, _"Wait, did he say Hanzo? This is going to be more trouble than it's worth."_

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Kurenai was looking for Kakashi. Strike, She had found Kakashi, but was unwilling to follow him to where he was currently at. The adult bookstore.

So she waited. And waited. And waited. After waiting for too long, she finally had an idea, thinking of a similar prank Naruto had done years ago.

Kurenai made a single handseal, "**Henge!**" and disappeared in a cloud of smoke to reveal Nara Shikaku.

Laughing inwardly she walked into the store to Kakashi. Coming up next to him she quietly asked, "So when are you going to have me teach your students, Kakashi?"

Kakashi did a double take before he eye smiled, "Shikaku is going to be in so much shit."

Thinking for a moment he said aloud, "I think that you should train Naruto first. He currently has no skill in Genjutsu whatsoever and I think a little tutoring will help."

"Shikaku" developed a tick on "his" forehead, "so who are you going to train?"

"Sas-" Kakashi didn't finish as he felt Kurenai's fist connect solidly with the side of his head.

"The deal was, Kakashi," Kurenai's tone lowered dangerously so that no one else could hear, "that I train all of your students, not one on one while you went off with the Uchiha. I'll go with this, but after the exams I'm going to train all of your students."

Smiling, Kurenai took the book out of Kakashi's hand, which happened to be the last book on the shelf, "That's mine, Hatake-san," Kurenai said loudly so that everybody who had been alerted to the struggle could hear.

She paid for the book then left. As Kurenai left she ducked into an alleyway and released the Henge and trashed the book. She was going to love the town gossip over the next week.

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Naruto came to at the clearing, hearing It grumbling at the back of his mind, _"__They don't even fucking listen when your talking at all. They couldn't even get my damned name right.__"_

"Naruto?" Said blond heard Ibiki's voice, and he looked around, noting that he was somewhere in the forest.

"Uh, why are we here, Ibiki-san?" Naruto asked as he looked around.

"Well, Naruto," Ibiki said thoughtfully, "The Hokage asked me to have a look at your abilities, so I decided that to do so, I am also going to train you for about a week."

Naruto could of sworn he heard amusement in Ibiki's voice, but he pushed that aside when he heard the word 'train', "What are we going to do, Ibiki-sensei?" Naruto asked excitedly with a smile on his face.

When he saw the smile on Ibiki's face Naruto's own smile fled away from his face, "Uh-oh."

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A week later found Naruto, to the surprise of Ibiki and many other who knew him, reading scrolls that related to understanding human thoughts.

Naruto didn't mind this compared to the first day that Ibiki had 'trained' him. In Naruto's world it had been little more than a foxhunt, and some of those weapons Ibiki used actually caused _scars_. Naruto had never been scared before in his life.

"All right," Ibiki's thoughtful voiced sounded, "Your training with me is done, and, one moment..." Naruto heard Ibiki walk over to the door of his apartment and heard him talking to a woman. He heard two sets of footsteps coming back.

"Naruto, you're in luck. This woman, Kurenai, is going to train you for the next week," Naruto could definitely hear amusement in Ibiki's voice, "Apparently, she lost a bet with your sensei."

Naruto looked at the woman, "Please tell me your training doesn't involve anything pointy being thrown at me."

(4)Disociative Personality Disorder: Better known as multiple personality disorder. Characterized by the main personality, the original blacking out and another personality taking over. If there is more than one personality besides the original, they are are usually aware of the actions of another. In psycological texts, there has only ever been one true case of multiple personality disorder, though it has been documented to varying degrees.


	12. Chapter 12, Pervert

I Do Not Own Naruto

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Ibiki looked at the notes he had taken when he had trained Naruto, rubbing his injured leg absently. He was disturbed by only one facet of their training. He remembered sparring and landing a punch on the boy and felt something sticky. Figuring it was sweat, he kept fighting.

Then he felt the sticky feeling move. It crawled up his arm, drawing his attention away from his and Naruto's spar, allowing the boy to get a few shots in. The crawling didn't stop until it hit his eyes, making for a bad burning sensation.

He met the boy's eyes and felt almost like a pulse of chakra, and the world changed slightly in his eyes. Sounds became duller, everything took on a much more drab hue, discoloring drastically, and sounds became duller, as if hearing them through cotton.

Ibiki saw the one thing he never wanted to see happen. Ever. He saw Naruto holding a kunai through Sarutobi-sama's gut. Ibiki had a thought, and held his hands together in a single seal, "Kai!"

Everything flashed for a moment and he saw Naruto shaking him, calling to him, then he saw that terrible scene again.

Thinking of a more drastic approach, Ibiki drew his own kunai and stabbed his own leg deeply, and felt the pain magnify twin fold before the world changed back and saw Naruto on his back holding his own leg in pain.

Ibiki limped over to the boy and checked his leg out. He saw no wounds, and the pain was purely imagined, as far as Ibiki was concerned. It seemed to probably be the only defense to beating this strange affect. Whatever happened to Naruto there, he seemed to actually feel it here.

Ibiki was surprised by Naruto's control of his pain. Ibiki decided to call it a day, and had Naruto go for a check up. Thinking of the odd amount of control Naruto seemed to have, Ibiki also asked for a check of Naruto's nervous system.

It was what Ibiki was reading now, _"Nervous system shows to be completely normal, though at times there seems to be both degradation and hypersensitivity. Requires more research. May have to do with the lack of skin pigmentation in the boy's current state."_

Ibiki sighed to himself. He'd learned quickly nothing was ever easy when it came to Naruto, and Ibiki had been a fool to hope that just this once, something would be easy.

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Kurenai growled in annoyance. Why was Naruto so bad at Genjutsu? Solely for the single fact that he had so much chakra and horrible control over it, and nobody had bothered to even explain the concepts to him. That, and the easiest place to learn water walking was the hot spring, which is where they were at now.

Naruto's control was finally getting to the point where he could use simple Genjutsu, and that only took six days by itself. She started with the basics: Tree Walking. Naruto could do that no problem. Water walking took a lot of work, but she was able to get Naruto to get it. Kunai Balancing was a lot harder, though Naruto took to that a lot easier than water walking. She currently had Naruto doing both the water walking exercise and the kunai balancing together.

Normally, Genjutsu required little control. Most Genin could do it without any chakra exercises at all. But Naruto's chakra was just so, Potent. It put everybody's chakra to shame. To put it simply, one of unit of Naruto's Chakra equaled approximately 10 of anybody else's.

Normally it only took minimal chakra control, but for somebody like Naruto, it took more control than normal.

The whole incident got Kurenai thinking to herself, though. She was contemplating taking Naruto as an apprentice. Even if they couldn't do much together while she had a team, the boy had the drive to move until he almost mastered it.

"Naruto, come here," Kurenai called.

Naruto got off the spring he'd been practicing on.

"I'm sorry I couldn't teach you more," Kurenai started, "I feel that in time you will be able to use Genjutsu, and any jutsu requiring chakra should be much easier, as such..." Kurenai stopped when she heard what sounded like giggling.

She looked at Naruto and he didn't seem to be laughing at anything. Quite the opposite, he was hanging on to her every word. Kurenai looked around, confused, until she saw a patch of white poking out of the side of the hot spring. The she realized, _"The women's side..."_

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Naruto was confused when he saw Kurenai march away halfway through her speech. He watched her march over to the bushes and heard her scream, "PERVERT!!" and he heard a very loud slap.

What happened was a chain reaction, Naruto heard several screaming women inside the spring, saw them all run out in towels, and proceed to beat a white haired old man who had been peeking in the hot spring.

Naruto made a mental note to not go peeking around the Hot Springs.

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After Kurenai left in a huff, with a polite nod to Naruto, Naruto walked over to the old man he'd seen the women beating on.

The man had a scroll along his back, a green and red gi, red marks on his face, an odd looking Hiate-ate, and had long white hair that was currently very frizzy and wild. He also had a look of contentment on his face.

Naruto got on his haunches and leaned down by the man, "So what did we learn?"

Instantly the man sprung to life and was on his feet, knocking down Naruto in the process, "Ah, women can't get enough of me!"

The man looked down at the kid he knocked over, and did a double take, "You need a tan, brat."

"Who are to be talking, pervert," the man instantly looked back at Naruto.

"I'm no pervert," the man started.

"Yes you are!" Naruto yelled back, pointing directly in the man's face.

"I'm a super pervert!" the man continued barely noticing Naruto's interruption.

"_Damn, he admitted it,"_ Naruto thought, and the man started to walk away with only a slight limp.

"HEY!" Naruto started, the man turned around.

"Since you chased off my sensei, you're going to train me!" Naruto called at him.

"Oh really?" the man said with a small grin, "Who was your sensei?"

"The one with the red eyes and black hair!" Naruto smirked as the man absently rubbed his cheek.

"Do you even know who you're talking to brat?" the man said quietly.

"No," Naruto started, "but as you're walking away from a beating like that, you've got to be tough."

The man looked at him and asked, "What clan are you from, boy?"

"I'm not from a clan," Naruto muttered.

"Can I have your name at least?" the man looked at Naruto.

"Hey, it's only polite to give your name first!" Naruto yelled at him.

"Fine," the man held out a small orange book, "My name is Jiraiya the Toad Sage, and I am the author of the wonderful series of books called Icha Icha!"

The man broke out into a dance at that, and Naruto grew a tick mark on his head, "My name is Uzumaki Naruto, and you had better have something interesting to teach me, ero-sennin."

"Whatever brat," Jiraiya started, "I doubt you can keep up with me."

"_What happened to the boy?" _Jiraiya thought, _"Neither Minato or Kushina ever showed signs like this, is it the Kyuubi?"_

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Later at a training ground, Jiraiya had Naruto show him the chakra exercises that he knew.

He watched as Naruto continually sank in the water or dropped the kunai.

"Hey brat," Jiraiya called, motioning for Naruto to come over.

"Yeah?" Naruto looked at him quizzically, only in his boxers.

"Hold your arms above your head like this and channel some chakra for me," Jiraiya said.

Naruto did as he was told and a seal on Naruto's stomach appeared. Jiraiya leaned forward and examined to mark, tracing the lines with his fingers.

"Hey Naruto, keep like this for a moment, I've got an exercise that will help with your control," Jiraiya said with a stupid grin on his face.

"All right," Naruto started before he felt the wind knocked out of him.

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A cage covered in black vines trembled, and a great beast opened it's eyes for the first time in thirteen years. It looked through the bars with it's terrible red eyes taking in the scenery in front of it, and it saw a couple of faces in the vines, _"This is different," _was all it thought as it took in all of it's surrounding.

It watched as the strange tendrils at times would try and breach his cage, but could never get more than a couple of inches in before the energy in the cage burned it.

"Hey, Red's awake!" one of the faces called.

"_This is new," _the beast though as it let the faces talk amongst themselves.

They would be entertaining for the moment.


	13. Chapter 13, Live Today as Your Last

I Do Not Own Naruto

A/N No more reference chapter. Appeared to be screwing up. I actually went to my story outside my account. Looked it up. It said 13 chapters. Good. Went to chapter 13, Reference chapter. Good. Clicked back. Reference chapter, with no access to chapter 13. Bad. Screw-ups happen in the blue nowhere, so I have no idea what happened, and after a repost, all was dandy. While the suggestion was good, rephrase how you make a suggestion. If a screw-up happens, leave a review and I'll get right on it the next time I'm online as I do owe quality work to those who have come to expect it.

Answers to questions and comments.

"Is Naruto's eyes always yellow?" Yes. While I agree that without the same blue eyes he's not the same Naruto, but such is the price of power. I'm not a big fan of stories where Naruto's suddenly a badass, or has some interesting power, and there are no drawbacks. Orochimaru's life jutsu thing, has to be done once every three years. Byakugan, while able to see in a 359 degrees, doesn't seem to have the ability to see through solids. Sharingan, vastly overpowered, but I suppose that technically the drawback is going blind. Eventually. Kaguya's bloodline? From what I've seen, it's an extremely chakra exhausting bloodline, though truly one sword is all that's needed in a fight, so also overbalanced, though not as bad as the Sharingan.

"How much of Naruto's skin came off?" All of it, all of it down to his ballsack, and his other eye is in happenstance, blue. Having been exposed to everybody, he doesn't feel the need to hide his changes. Understand that he DOESN'T understand what his bloodline does.

"How did she (I'm assuming Sakura) know it was Naruto?" His voice. While Sakura is smart, she is naive, and would trust his voice after going through the mental trauma of feeling a teammate's flesh literally just tear off of him. That's a hard pill to swallow, wouldn't you think? Let me describe the feeling more in detail. Watch how the flesh just slides off the meat after a third degree burn, it's not sticking, it's not catching. It just sloughs off, exposing the muscle to open air. That's a pretty sick picture isn't it? Now imagine feeling it happen. Imagine just feeling the flesh slide off whatever it was you are trying to hold and hearing it tear. Bet some people reading this are probably sick to their stomach so I'll stop there.

"So and so out of character!" There's no fun in writing any kind of romance of any kind if there are no problems in it, and I think Orochimaru's in character because he loves to experiment on people, and so a new undiscovered bloodline that is possibly powerful would be like giving a baby a new toy. He doesn't want Naruto, he want's Naruto's bloodline, unknown as it may be. He wants the Uchiha's power, it's the same line of thought. If he can't have it, than he'll try and take like a three year old. Back to Inoichi. While yes, he's out of character, and yes being friends with somebody who is as cold a calculating as the Aburame, have you ever had friends and had ideals clash? Did you cut off connection because of that? If so you are a sad little man. I have a friend who is muslim, and as long as he doesn't actively interfere with my life on the precepts of faith, we get along together great. Hate clouds people's minds, and people will always do something illogical and stupid with hate. When writing any character is a plot device and a new chew toy to play with, as an author, I have the right to do with this story as I see fit. Inoichi does see the light in this chapter, and as a father, wouldn't you be pissed if some unknown factor hurt your child with unknown consequences? I'm doing this to him for the benefit of my story, and all things that happen play into the story. Every line, every description, every word has a meaning.

"What did Naruto do that ticked off Orochimaru?" Technically, nothing. It was something new to him, and knowing that the Kyuubi's constant flow of chakra was a unknown variable, he cut it off, wanting to know what would happen. While he wouldn't be around to see what would happen, he still has Kabuto feeding him information.

"Summoning?" Toads, with trouble just getting the technique down, but when he successfully summons Gamabunta, he has no problems summoning the toad boss. You'll just have to see next chapter.

As for Oedipus? The oracle told his father which was why he abandoned the baby, bring about his own end. The oracle didn't tell Oedipus a thing.

And the only thing I have to say about Naruto's bloodline is that it is not a true doujutsu. Every part of his physical and mental changes are involved in some form.

Thank you to Narutomaniac for all these great questions, and you're right when I need to put in more description.

Oh, and I don't condone rape in anyway shape or form, and rapists should be shot on sight. You'll see later in the story.

_Thoughts_

_Unknown, Haohmaru, Hanzo_

"Speaking"

**Jutsu, Demon**

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Ino had not been having a good month in general. She had been beaten by the dead-last, had been told that said dead-last was a murderer, and to top it all off, the damned dreams wouldn't stop.

"_Just admit that you like the boy,__" _Haohmaru said in a sing-song voice.

"If anything you had something to do with this," Ino mumbled, remembering how Haohmaru had referred to her as pretty lady before it became boss lady.

"_I just brought them to your attention. I do have to admit that cowboy fits you,__"_ Haohmaru began.

"Don't you dare finish that statement," Ino growled with a deep blush.

"_Oh come on,__" _Haohmaru began.

"Enough!" Ino nearly shouted, "I'm going for a walk."

Ino gathered her gear and made to exit, shouting to her mother, "I'm going out!"

"_You mean 'we're' going out,__" _Haohmaru giggled, _"__It is night after all.__"_

"Shut up," Ino said quietly, _"Kami, I understand why everybody thought that Naruto was crazy," _Ino thought to herself, ignoring Haohmaru's insane giggling, _"I'm probably two steps away myself!"_

Ino had been walking for about an hour, when Haohmaru's insane giggling stopped, _"__Boss lady,__" _Haohmaru began with uncharacteristic seriousness, _"__We're being followed.__"_

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Naruto was having a bad day. He had signed the toad contract like the pervert wanted. Then he was summoning, over and over, and he could never get anything bigger than Gamakichi, a small, young, red toad Naruto summoned on his first try.

After a week of that he had told Naruto to live today as if it was his last, that the next bit of training might just make it so.

Then Naruto had done with the day as he wanted, and he felt like he accomplished nothing. He had wasted the day like he would any other day training or eating ramen.

Then, as he was walking home that night he felt a tug. He looked around and saw nothing. He continued to walk a moment before he felt it again. Again he saw nothing.

He stood still for a moment and waited for it to happen. He wasn't disappointed when he felt the tug again, and saw one of the black tendrils leading to him twitch.

Naruto grabbed it uncertainly and felt a tug before he was in somebody else's body. A bystander. He felt somebody grab a hold of the new body's right breast roughly before he heard a whisper in his ear, "Weak, if the demon can defeat you, then we can have some fun no problem."

"BOSS!" Naruto heard Haohmaru and turned to him, "You have to hurry! Just following the lines connecting you two and MOVE DAMMIT!"

With that Naruto felt himself back in his body with one thought in his mind before he ran as fast as he could, _"Ino-Chan!"_

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Jiraiya watched the scene in interest. He expected some heartfelt good byes or something. Instead the brat had wasted the day training and eating ramen.

Jiraiya sighed and was about to leave when he saw Naruto stop, before looking around, _"He can't of seen me," _Jiraiya though uncertainly, _"What's he up to?"_

Jiraiy watched Naruto take a couple of uncertain steps before he froze again, and Naruto looked like he was waiting for something. Naruto took a grasp of something before his body went stock still, as the brat's breathing increased dramatically.

After a couple of seconds Naruto just took off, running for all he was worth, and he seemed to be following and extremely random path.

Jiraiya was having trouble keeping up as he watched Naruto move to rooftops, shove people out of his way, and slid under carts. Jiraiya was impressed, he didn't think the brat didn't have that kind of grace in him, and he wanted to see what had the boy in such a panic.

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Experience caught up with Naruto as he raced through Konoha. His body remembering old reflexes that had been forgotten for lack of a chase. Now Naruto felt chased, he felt chased by time. If time caught up, then there were going to be no second chances.

This was real, and Naruto would be damned if he let anything happen to somebody he knew. The thought of what would be lost spurned Naruto on. His body felt hot, but he did not sweat. He cried but he was not sad. Naruto felt grim determination to do what needed to be done to protect his friend.

Naruto felt Rage.

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Jiraiya was in a panic as he saw the changes go through Naruto. First the boy began to move faster, then he began to run on all fours.

Jiraiya could see deep clefts in the brat's cheeks where the birth marks had been, and the brat's hair had become much more rowdy, much more like an animal's hair.

"_Like a fox's," _Jiraiya thought in a panic as he watched on as the boy ran even faster, _"Shit! This isn't the time for stealth Jiraiya! Stop him!"_

Then Jiraiya heard a bloodcurdling scream cut through the night.

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Ino was held down as she felt two sets of hands hold her down. She didn't struggle because of a kunai held against her throat.

"Good girl," a man with white hair and a Konoha Hiate-ate said as he worked at his pants, "You know you can't fight it."

Ino closed her eyes, _"Please, anyone, help me..."_

She heard the man chuckle and smelt sake as she felt her own belts being undone, and began to cry.

The she felt something hot splash against her cheek as she heard the man cry a strange, gargled cry, before she heard somebody fall into a heap.

"WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT!" The man holding her on the right screamed before she heard another gargled cry, and heard a sickening crack on the left.

She heard heavy breathing, and while she could no longer feel the kunai against her throat, she didn't dare open her eyes.

"Ino-Chan," a very dark growl came from in front of her, "Keep your eyes closed. It's messy, let's get you home."

As the voice spoke it took on a more human aspect, and she recognized the voice, _"Naruto..."_

She felt a pair of arms grab her under her legs and across her shoulders and she felt herself move.

Ino leaned into the boy's chest and cried softly.

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Jiraiya watched the bloodshed, and knew what it was that had Naruto worked into a frenzy.

After he watched Naruto leave holding the other blond, he went down to take care of the messy business.

Three ANBU surrounded him as he was investigating.

"Jiraiya-sama," a male voice said, "What happened here?"

"Uzumaki Naruto witnessed an attempted rape and stopped it before it could go further," Jiraiya said with a tone of finality, "he did use the fox's power, and made sure that these men would never attempt it again."

Jiraiya looked at the bodies, "Do you recognize these people?"

The ANBU looked at the two bodies close together first, "Washout Genin from this years passing students.

They turned over the white haired man, and said quietly, "Former Chuunin Mizuki."

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The Hokage was currently in an argument with one Yamanaka Inoichi.

"You should have seen how that Demon brought my daughter home!" Inoichi screamed at the Hokage, whom just kept puffing along on his pipe, "They were both covered in blood! ANBU have him now as we speak, and he was trying to feed some bullshit about my daughter almost being raped!"

"Yamanaka-san," the Hokage began.

"He's a menace you stupid old fool!" Inoichi continued, "This is exactly as we feared! You should have him taken care of!"

"Ahem," a different voice sounded.

Inoichi saw the newcomer, and nodded his head, "Jiraiya-sama."

"Sensei," Jiraiya began, "I have come back and I have witnessed a crime that one Uzumaki Naruto was involved in."

"See!" Inoichi began.

"He saved a blond girl from being raped by an ex-ninja name Mizuki," Jiraiya finished, ignoring Inoichi.

"WHAT!" Inoichi screamed at Jiraiya.

"Shut it," Jiraiya said in a cold tone, "I witnessed the crime take place first hand. Uzumaki Naruto was in the vicinity of the crime, and he put an end to the bastards using the Kyuubi's chakra."

Inoichi was stunned, _"He used the Demon, to save my daughter?"_

"The punishment," Jiraiya continued, "if I remember correctly, for assaulting a ninja, civilian or otherwise, is death. That has been dealt with by Naruto."

Sarutobi smiled at Inoichi, "Who was the old fool?"

Inoichi paled as he bowed his head in shame.

"I understand your pain, Inoichi," Sarutobi began, "The Kyuubi took your sister. The Kyuubi took Jiraiya-sama's student. The beast also took the innocence of Uzumaki Naruto."

"Mizuki was a traitor," Sarutobi continued after taking a long drag from his pipe, "He tried to abandon his village. He was bailed out by one of the council members, I believe," Sarutobi sighed as he continued, "His name was Yamanaka Inoichi."


	14. Chapter 14, Gamabunta

I Do Not Own Naruto

A/N I'm never answering that many questions again. Ever. That took up too much space in my opinion, but I thought that they needed answering to the public. The right to know, after all. I didn't even bother reading the reviews last chapter because I knew somebody was going to complain that the end didn't make much sense. That's the point. It didn't, there's more to it, and I finally get to introduce the bigger picture in this chapter.

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Jiraiya was rubbing his temples. Mizuki, an obvious traitor, had gotten off almost completely free. According the council notes in front of him, Mizuki's only crime was being an accessory in the theft, as apparently Naruto had been the one to do the actual theft.

Mizuki was stripped of his title as a shinobi for this. In most cases that is a fate worse than death, and to Mizuki it was.

When the council released him to ANBU, they had had all of his chakra sealed off, in effect making him almost harmless to other shinobi. That didn't make a fully grown man harmless against a 13 year old girl, though.

Then the bail was insanely low, and the cash had been put forward by a council member. When Jiraiya thought about it, it was probably because the council member had thought that he had done a service by fingering Naruto.

The justice system wasn't that hard to understand, as Jiraiya went through the case. The council took the justice cases. It was one of the few areas that the Hokage had little say.

Death was only the penalty if someone was harmed in the crime. This was why most missing Nin are labeled "Kill on sight". More grievous crimes, like trying to sell out the village, for one, was dealt with by stripping the shinobi's title, and sealing of their chakra with a fail-safe. If the seal is removed, or if the person leaves the confines of the village, it kills the person who had it.

Jiraiya suspected that there was some greasing of the palms, as Mizuki's 'trial' was like a bad joke. Something else bothered Jiraiya though, _"If he was stripped of his status, why did he have Hiate-ate?"_ He thought to himself, _"Why did it have the symbol of the leaf?"_

Other things bothered Jiraiya, too. While Inoichi did have a great distaste for the kid, he _never _would have called the Hokage a fool to his face. Something was off about the whole village, and Jiraiya had been gone a long time.

Jiraiya stopped his musing as Naruto approached, and prepared to try and get Naruto to summon the boss toad. He would, or else.

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Ibiki handed in his report to the Hokage, sitting rigid. Something was definitely off today.

"Is this all, Ibiki-san?" Sarutobi asked quietly.

"_**DISAPPOINTING**__," _a voice sounded in Sarutobi's head, _"__**I have witnessed this brat time and again escape me, Now he is all but untouchable by me.**__"_

"_Please, stop,"_ Sarutobi thought quietly, _"stop this."_

"Sarutobi-sama?" Ibiki questioned.

"Thank you, Ibiki," Sarutobi took a drag from his pipe, "I need to think on this."

"_**Who is this Uzumaki? Answer me Sarutobi!**__" _the voice echoed inside Sarutobi's head.

"_You don't remember?" _Sarutobi thought quietly. As soon as the presence left Sarutobi's mind, he couldn't remember anything it had said.

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Inoichi walked quietly to sit in his home, and listened to his daughter cry softly. The demon, had saved his daughter. Using it's power.

"_What was he trying to do?" _Inoichi thought quietly to himself, _"Was it a trick? It couldn't have been. I was the one who paid off the bail for Mizuki, and the demon was nowhere around then."_

"_**Inoichi-kun?**__" _Inoichi jumped at the sudden, quiet voice, _"__**I want you to do something for me,**__" _the voice chuckled, _"__**I want you to get inside Naruto's head. I can't touch your daughter, and I need something.**__"_

Remembering everything, when that presence touched his mind, of what the voice had told him earlier, Inoichi grew angry, _"No."_

"_**What?**__" _the voice said with a deadly edge to it's voice, _"__**You forget yourself Yamanaka.**__"_

"Your forget yourself!" Inoichi cried out loud.

"_**But you need a refresher course, Yamanaka,**__" _Inoichi felt chakra gather around him, _"__**Shintenshin no jutsu!**__"_

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Naruto approached Jiraiya with a serious look on his face.

"Ready, brat?" Jiraiya asked.

Naruto nodded.

"Good," Jiraiya quietly approached Naruto, and grabbed him by the collar.

"What are you doing, Ero-sennin?" Naruto asked, confused.

"I'm sorry brat," With that, Jiraiya threw Naruto off the cliff.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

As Naruto fell, he felt strangely calm, and then panic hit as he realized he was actually falling. He grabbed at the sides of the canyon, only to have the walls to slippery to grip.

He thought back on Kurenai's training, _"For jutsu, feel for a trickle, that is then enough."_

Naruto bit his thumb as he tried the jutsu, only pumping as much chakra as he could into it, and was surprised, that instead of feeling a trickle, it felt like the chakra was going to peak.

He screamed out the name of the jutsu as he felt his chakra reach that peak, "**Kuchiyose no Jutsu!**"

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Jiraiya meanwhile, was panicking, _"WHY IN THE LIVING HELL DID I THROW HIM OFF THE CLIFF?!"_

Jiraiya was flailing his arms about and screaming as he tried to figure out what to do, then he heard an ominous voice call up from the crevice.

"**Jiraiya, why have you summoned me!**" Jiraiya could only cringe as he recognized the voice

"_Oh crap," _Jiraiya thought quietly.

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Naruto heard the deep rumble come underneath him as he looked around uncertainly. He got up and ran to the edge of the red thing he was on.

He heard the thing he was on yell at Jiraiya, and he quickly became ticked at being pushed aside.

"Hey you stupid toad!" Naruto yelled at it, "I summoned you!"

He could feel the thing's eyes shift upwards, "**Really,**" Naruto felt the giant toad take a deep breath, and exhaled, Naruto coughed on the smoke that came up, "**I doubt a little brat like you could summon me.**"

"Hey!" Naruto screached at the toad, "I did summon you! Dammit, I did! Not that pervert up there!"

The giant toad chuckled, "**I like you brat. I'll tell you what, I'm going to give you a little test.**"

"What test?" Naruto called down as he felt the toad tense underneath him.

"**Stay on my back!**" the toad called out as he jumped straight up with Naruto screaming as well.

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Jiraiya felt the earth rumble, and doing the only thing he could think to do, he ran for cover.

He saw the massive toad jump out of the crevice, with the pale skinned blond screaming for dear life.

Jiraiya watched with a grin twitching at the corners of his mouth as he saw the toad keep jumping around with Naruto clinging for dear life.

He'd did what he wanted to have happen, but he still could not figure out for the life of him what happened to make him decide to throw Naruto off a cliff, of all things.

He watched the show until well into sunset.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

The giant toad, while it would never say it out loud, was having the time of his life. The was the same game he played with Gamakichi, and he enjoyed using as a test for a brat near it's son's age.

He continued jumping well into sunset, only stopping when he heard the unmistakable sound of Naruto vomiting.

"Sorry," Naruto called weakly.

"**Well, brat, I'll give this for staying on so long, I'll let you summon those from my clan,**" the giant toad took a giant puff from a pipe Naruto was just now noticing it had, "**What's your name?**"

"Uzumaki...Naruto," Naruto said in between gasps.

"**Brat, I'm your new boss, Gamabunta. I had heard about you from my son, so I expect to here more,**" Gamabunta took a puff a blew it into a crop of trees, "**I won't let you summon me just yet, though. We must share a drink first.**"

"Gotcha," Naruto gasped, "Boss."

Then he passed out.

A hacking cough broke out of the tree line as a scroll flew at the toad, showing the last name on the list, "Uzumaki Naruto."

"**I knew it was him, Jiraiya,**" Gamabunta chuckled, "**He's tired, though. I'm going to get the brat to the hospital.**"

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The populace of Konoha was scrambling to get out of the way, though that was unnecessary, as the giant toad watched his step as he hopped through the city.

Sarutobi watched the toad as it hopped through the city, chuckling to himself, "What are you doing, Jiraiya?"

The giant toad came to a stop in front of the hospital, extending it's tongue to deposit something in front of the doors. Then the toad disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

Naruto merely turned over where he lay, with a big smile on his face.


	15. Chapter 15, Yami

I Do Not Own Naruto

A/N I've had another idea for a story. I'll let everyone know when it's up; the thoughts entered my head as I watched a movie called "Ninja Scroll". I've also noticed that I keep forgetting to keep the damn legend up. I also don't know if I spelled "Tenketsu" right."

_Thoughts_

_Unknown, Hanzo, Haohmaru_

"Speaking"

**Jutsu/Demons**

_**Unknown**_

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Naruto was standing with all of the rookies as the Hokage gave a speech. He quietly looked around, idly noticing that there was a different proctor, and saw Sasuke was not there.

"_Teme better not be picking up from Kakashi-sensei," _Naruto thought irritably.

He was snapped out of his thoughts when he heard his named called, "...Naruto out of the ring."

He started to leave when he noticed everyone else except Neji was leaving, _"Right," _Naruto thought, ignoring the laughing coming from his voices, _"I'm first."_

Neji looked at Naruto coldly, "You cannot win, no matter what you can do, or what you gave learned."

"Whatever," Naruto shrugged indifferently, "We'll see when this is over."

Neji smirked at Naruto's attitude, "I'll win. It is my fate."

Naruto looked to the side, "Screw fate."

He looked at Neji, glaring at him, matching the Hyuuga's gaze unflinchingly, "No one's fate is written in stone."

"Maybe, one day, I'll grace you with the tale of the Hyuuga," Neji glared at Naruto, his eyes filled with hatred, "If you can ever prove your words, failure."

Naruto drew a kunai, "Then just shut the hell up and get started."

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"100 ryo on the Hyuuga," a Chuunin amongst the crowd stated, glaring at Naruto.

"I'll take that bet," Anko said from the crowd, standing up in anger.

"I will as well," said Ino standing, surprising a few people.

"I'll take that up, Ino-pig," Sakura stood up with Anko and Ino.

"Anybody else want to take this bet?" Anko loudly yelled at the crowd. The crowd almost instantly began to take the bets.

The crowd instantly quieted down as the heard two kunai clash.

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"That's all, failure?" Neji smirked, "and you with those big words."

Naruto growled in anger. He'd felt weird this entire fight, he'd had an itchy feeling in his arms the whole fight.

"Byakugan," Neji said quietly, almost stepping back in surprise from Naruto's figure as he saw the chakra shrouded Naruto's figure.

He saw great black veins in Naruto's chakra, leaking out of his Tenketsu. He noticed that several veins had wrapped around Naruto's arms, while others seemed to be fighting with others.

"What?" he almost sounded like he was in awe.

Shaking his head, "It doesn't matter," Neji took the Jyuuken stance, "Once a dead-last, always a dead last."

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Inoichi watched helplessly as a bystander in his own body. He didn't know what this entity wanted with his body, but it couldn't be good.

This thing, had proclaimed himself, if it was a he, Yami. It had said that is what Inoichi could know him by, as he didn't need to know his real name.

"_**Just a little while longer, boy," **_'Yami' thought sadistically, _**"Then maybe, after all these years, I will have what is mine."**_

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Neji smirked as Naruto charged him, "**Hakke Rokujuuyonshou (Eight Divination Signs - 64 Palms of the Hand)."**

Naruto desperately tried to block, as Neji struck at him, "Two Palms."

Naruto felt his arms pull back, almost on their own will, "Four Palms."

Neji's eyes widened as several of the black tendrils became loose and splayed around wildly, almost as a squid's arms, "Eight Palms."

Naruto felt something dark changing, his body physically changing, hurting him as it happened, "Sixteen Palms."

Naruto instinctively curled inwards, trying to block the pain, "Thirty-two Palms."

Neji smirked as he went to finish the combo, "Sixty-fo-"

Naruto let out a shriek as massive black tendrils erupted from his flesh, _"__Let the body reflect the mind,__" _Naruto heard the sadistic unknown voice echo deep within his mind laughing madly.

Neji felt the tendrils grab his hand and tossed him back, his body hit the ground with a dull thud.

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Most of the crowd stopped their cheering at the current scene and Ino trembled, remembering the feelings of those tendrils as that strange face threatened her, _"Why are you here?"_

The echo sounded in her mind as she felt the phantom pain of the claw piercing her skin. She absently rubbed the skin of her neck.

"N-n-naruto-kun," Hinata stuttered in shock.

Sakura just looked away, remembering the time his skin had torn.

"**Hakkeshou Kaiten (Eight Divination Palms of the Hand - Heavenly Spin)" **echoed from the stadium.

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Neji panicked as he saw the tendrils charge at him in Naruto's stead, and did the only thing he though to do. He used Kaiten, a defensive jutsu that was used to defend at all angles by forcing chakra out of all the Tenketsu.

The tendrils were blown away, but instantly came at him again. He noticed one particular tendril that seemed particularly hell-bent on reaching him, it had a claw on the end of it.

Neji looked at Naruto kneeling form at the center of the mass of tendrils that reached at him. He could only close his eyes as the clawed tendril approached him. Seconds ticked by, and slowly Neji opened his eyes.

Only inches away from his face he saw the one tendril trying frantically to cut at his face, only to have other tendrils wrapped around it, as several of the tendrils fought at each other as well. Naruto was whimpering as he clutched his head, telling himself not to kill Neji.

Slowly, the tendrils made their way back into Naruto's body, and Neji saw for the first time where the black mass of chakra originated. Naruto's eyes.

The clawed tendril struggled to the last, before being closed up over Naruto's heart. Neji bowed his head, steadying himself for this, "Proctor, I forfeit."

The proctor looked at Neji quizzically, "That last attack could have killed me, if Naruto had not stopped. One does not often receive second chances as a Ninja, and thus I forfeit..

Nodding his head, the Proctor spoke, "Winner, Uzumaki Naruto."

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Ino honestly did not think about it at the time, but she had just made quite a bit of money. She had just done that to stand up for Naruto, a little angry that the Chuunin seemed to think so little of Naruto. Sakura had seemed to be on the same boat while Anko had a vary satisfied smirk on her face, _"__She knew all along!__" _Haohmaru was laughing uproariously, _"__She expected him to win! I doubt she expected this though, even I didn't expect that.__"_

Anko, while satisfied, was a little surprised and angry at the changes that happened around Naruto, "Orochimaru," she growled to herself, "If you hurt him in anyway, I'll make sure to skin you alive next time."

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Gaara quietly walked down to the arena, grinning manically. His grin started to fade when he noticed that Sasuke was not there.

He stood there waiting with the proctor.

"Uchiha Sasuke!" the proctor called.

After a few moments Sarutobi finally spoke, "I know many of you came to see the last Uchiha fight, but unfortunately he must be disqualified. If a ninja is late on a mission, it could cost everybody on the mission. Therefore, Uchiha Sasuke match is therefore forfeit and he will not be awarded the rank of Chuunin."

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"_**Just as well," **_Yami thought to himself, _**"I do not appreciate the damned Uchiha. They have squandered their gift and have lost sight of what was important."**_

Many of the spectators around him booed, then Sarutobi spoke again, "As many of you have come to see him fight, there will be an exhibition with the winner of the tournament."

Sarutobi sighed to himself as he sat back down, angry at Kakashi for his blatant disregard for the rules of the Ninja, _"You have broke your own nindo, Kakashi-kun," _Sarutobi thought sadly, _"Many of the rules are there to protect your comrades. An act like this in the field could cost them dearly, and you forget that the Uchiha is still being tested."_

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The Proctor called, "As Uchiha Sasuke has been disqualified, will Sabaku no Kankuro step into the ring, as you were seeded."

"I forfeit!" came the scared reply of Kankuro.

The Proctor sighed, "Winner Sabaku no Gaara. Will Sabaku no Temari and Nara Shikamaru please step into the ring.

Inwardly Gaara was cursing along with his 'mother'. Now he had to haul that heavy gourd of his back up the stairs.


	16. Chapter 16, Gama

I Do Not Own Naruto

A/N I have the first couple of chapters up for a new story if anyone's interested. It's a little different. Naruto's like Lee in that he can't use Jutsu, except Naruto can hardly use chakra at all. Give it a read, I don't think it's that bad. Anyways, I want to thank all the people who have given sites that can translate and also that Acara Whitefox for doing the other translations for me. Big help, y'all.

_Thoughts_

_Unknown, Hanzo, Haohmaru_

"Speaking"

**Jutsu/Demons**

'_**Yami'**_

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"Go on Shikamaru!" Naruto was behind him, almost pleading with him to go.

"Troublesome," Shikamaru stated bored, "I don't want to have to fight a girl."

"You don't have to worry about that; she doesn't look that tough!" Naruto cheered.

"_To you, maybe,__"_ Hanzo said, with a strange note Naruto had only ever heard from Jiraiya's voice.

"Don't even think about it," Naruto said flatly.

"What was that, Naruto?" Shikamaru asked with as he turned towards Naruto.

"I," Naruto started, "I, I said that you can do it!" He gave Shikamaru a hard clap on the back that sent him hurtling over the edge.

Shikamaru lay in the dust for a moment, enjoying the clouds, "So good of you to join us, Nara-san."

"_I am going to get you later you troublesome blond," _Shikamaru thought to himself as he straightened himself and dusted off his clothes.

He walked toward the ring, already planning his next move.

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Naruto rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, _"I didn't mean to do that."_

"_No, I hope that doesn't affect his performance, either,__" _Hanzo spoke from within Naruto's mind, _"__You know, brat, you really should try to learn what your supposed 'bloodline' does.__"_

"How am I supposed to go around doing that!" Naruto cried, drawing many stern looks his way.

"_I don't know,__" _Hanzo said, chuckling a bit, _"__You'll have to figure that out on your own.__"_

"I hate you," Naruto said, glaring at nobody in particular.

"_I see things like you do, you think I have a clue? I'm busy fighting off the other guy!__" _Hanzo angrily countered.

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Shikamaru was at a stand still with the blond from Suna, thinking for a moment he sat down, running through various scenarios in his head, _"What to do, yes, that ought to work."_

Taking off his coat, Shikamaru attached it to a Kunai and flung it high into the air.

Temari looked at the action with confusion, blushing as he took off his mesh shirt and did the same thing, only throwing it in a different direction.

"What do you think you're doing?" Temari questioned, looking slightly wide eyed at the action, the Shikamaru took one Fuuma Shuriken out and threw it into the sky, making the seals and calling out the Jutsu, "**Kage Shuriken no Jutsu (Shadow Shuriken Technique)!**"

Then Shikamaru made the rat seal, waiting for Temari to stop the attack with a wind jutsu, he wasn't disappointed.

Temari drew back her fan, and swung it forward releasing a great gust of wind to blow the first shuriken off target. When she did that, Shikamaru called his jutsu, "**Kage Mane no Jutsu (Shadow Imitation Technique)!"**

Temari froze, unable to move. Then she started to turn, to see another Fuuma Shuriken buried in the ground, casting a long shadow, and a between that, two smaller shadows that had the Nara's shadow connecting them all, with one of them getting rapidly larger.

"Call the match," Shikamaru called as he drew several shuriken, "It's over."

"Winner, Nara Shikamaru," the proctor called.

As soon as the match was called, Shikamaru released the jutsu and collapsed, breathing heavily. Temari looked at him, thinking for a moment, "You were bluffing."

Shikamaru nodded his head as medic came out to load him up.

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The proctor nodded, thinking to himself, then he called, "Uzumaki Naruto and Sabaku no Gaara. Will you two come down to the arena!"

Naruto stood quietly watching Gaara, when a gust of leaves blew threw the arena. After a stronger gust, both Kakashi and Sasuke had arrived.

"Yo," Kakashi said with an eye smile, "Are we late?"

"Yes," the proctor said irritably, "The Third would like a word with you Kakashi, and your student has been disqualified for tardiness."

Both Sasuke's and Kakashi's eyes widened, "What?" Kakashi asked.

"As the Hokage stated," the proctor said with satisfaction, "Tardiness on the field cannot be tolerated. You yourself have never been late while on a mission, Kakashi-san. Tardiness on the field can result in the deaths of your comrades as well."

Sasuke stepped forward and opened his mouth, "..and you, Uchiha-san," the proctor interrupted, "you are very lucky that many of these people came here to see you fight. You will be in an exhibition match versus the winner of this fight," he motioned the two fighters in the ring, "You have also lost any chance for advancement this round, you will not be awarded Chuunin rank. Both of you, get off the arena now."

Sasuke looked at the two fighters and saw Naruto and seethed in anger as he stalked off to the stands.

The proctor noted that both the teacher and the student were off the arena, before he raised his hand, "Begin!"

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Kakashi stood in front of the Hokage, furious, "Why did you disqualify him?"

"Simple, Kakashi-san," Sarutobi said in an even voice, "He was late and he was still being tested. While you are often late, you are never late when lives are on the line. He is still being tested. If this had been a real circumstance? Intolerable."

"But Hokage-sama," Kakashi began, "Obito-"

"Don't you dare bring that into this Kakashi-san," Sarutobi said in an icy voice, "You have broken your own nindo, Kakashi-san. I refuse to give the Uchiha preferential treatment, and I will treat him as I would any other shinobi. Leave now, if you would watch maybe you could see how your other student has grown."

Kakashi looked at the arena and saw Naruto, "No, this is bad, Sarutobi! He's not ready to handle that!"

"Of course," Sarutobi began, "You took the Uchiha on the pretense that he would be the one facing Gaara. You didn't even consider it the slightest bit possible that the other student of yours would have to face him."

Sarutobi took a puff on the pipe, noting that the Kazekage kept looking at him through the corner of his eye, _"Something's up."_

"Be quiet and watch, Kakashi," Sarutobi said with finality.

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Naruto held his right arm as blood dripped down it. This kid had stabbed him with his sand. Naruto had expected this Gaara to try and grab him like he'd heard, and then he finds that he can also make weapons with his sand.

"Dammit," Naruto muttered to himself, "I need some back-up."

"_Back-up,"_ Naruto snapped his fingers.

"Idiot," Naruto chuckled to himself.

He bit his thumb as he ran through the seals, "I always have back-up, now!"

Naruto slammed his hand into the ground, "**Kuchiyose no Jutsu (Summoning Technique)!"**

Naruto focused about half of what he put into summoning Gamabunta, praying for something that could fight.

A large cloud of smoke blew away to reveal a large toad about six feet tall with twin blades running down his back.

"**Did you summon me, brat?**" The toad asked Naruto.

"Yeah," Naruto said, angry that the toad called him brat, "Let's take on this guy over there, Gama-san!"

"**Got it, brat,**" with that the toad drew the blades on his back.

Then the two charged the redhead.


	17. Chapter 17, The Invasion Begins

I Do Not Own Naruto

A/N Way to give me performance anxiety everybody. Sorry for the wait. I got stuck on how I should make Gaara bleed. This and the last chapters are shorter, it's taking a lot to come up to throw new twists on very old news.

_Thoughts_

_Unknown, Hanzo, Haohmaru_

"Speaking"

**Jutsu/Demons**

'_**Yami'**_

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

Kakashi was gaping as he watched Naruto summon the toad, "I didn't teach him that."

"_I didn't teach him anything," _Kakashi thought sadly.

Sarutobi gave a sideways look to Kakashi, "Seems Naruto found his own teachers, Kakashi."

Kakashi hung his head, and turned to watch the fight in silence.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

Sasuke's eyes widened, and he glared at Kakashi, _"You wouldn't let me sign your contract. Where did Naruto get his?"_

Sasuke stopped for a moment surprised, _"I want it, I want the contract. I'll find out, Naruto."_

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

"**Brat," **the toad said as he charged Gaara, avoiding the sand coming at them, **"I learned this from the boss, Gamadosuzan (Toad Yakuza Sword Beheading)!"**

The toad swung his swords in a wide arc sideways, cutting the sand off from the attack sending it flying around the arena.

Naruto growled dodge another strike before making the ram seal, "My name isn't brat, toad, it's Uzumaki Naruto, **Kage Bushin no Jutsu (Shadow Clone Technique)!**" Several other Naruto's came into existence beside him.

"**Like wise," **the toad said jumping back from the fray, focusing his chakra, **"My name isn't toad either. My name is Kensai."**

Naruto moved to strike as the sand kept coming to block, **"Brat move back," **Kensai shouted before his mouth moved like he was going to vomit, **"Gamayu (Toad Oil)!"**

Gaara's sand quickly moved around him to defend himself.

Kensai smirked, **"Use a fire jutsu boy."**

Naruto looked at him, his eyes wide, "I don't know any fire Jutsu!"

Kensai smirk faded instantly, **"What do you mean you don't know any fire Jutsu!?" **He screamed at Naruto.

Kensai growled as he charged, **"This will have to do then, a gift from those damned weasels, Kaze no Yaiba (Sword of Wind)!"**

A Suna nin's eyes widened when he heard the toad call the technique out, he looked distractedly at his team, _"I hope Temari doesn't summon any of those."_

He brought both blades down, as wind began to travel swiftly around them, and dug them into the sand, meeting a lot of resistance. After a moment the blades went all the way through the dome, clean, with no blood.

Kensai was taking deep breaths, **"Damn, brat, you can pick them. That took a lot out of me, I have to return. Next time."**

Kensai was surrounded in a cloud of smoke, back home to rest.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

Gaara coughed as he struggled to stand. Whatever had been around those blades hurt. The very winds screamed through his dome, not giving him any respite. Gaara vaguely recalled his sensei using a similar jutsu once.

Gaara struggled to his hands and knees and noticed something. There was blood on his hands. He coughed again as more blood dripped down onto his hands.

"Is this mine?" Gaara questioned himself. He began to chuckle, "Mother was right to pick you Uzumaki."

A dark chuckled echoed through the arena, "Shit!" Kankuro whispered to Temari, "He's going to bring him out. We have to give the signal!"

Temari nodded to her teacher who in turn gave another nod to an unknown person. Soon, feathers covered the entire arena, drawing people's gazes to it.

Sakura, surprised threw her hands together, "Kai!"

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

"Dammit, now was not the time to be falling asleep brat!" 'Naruto' cried, he looked around, "Gee, I'm back out already."

Several clouds of smoke blew away as the clones Naruto summoned vanished.

"Why should I even bother," 'Naruto' turned towards the dome as it dissolved revealing a misshapen Gaara, sand had covered parts of the boy in a bizarre parody of a Tanuki, "I suppose the boss wouldn't want me to fight you here. Follow me, Gaara."

With that 'Naruto' took off, with Gaara moving after him.

"_Dammit," _'Naruto' thought, _"Wake up!"_

"_Huh?__" _A voice sounded.

"Good, About time, take back over brat!" 'Naruto' said, "What the hell Hanzo!"

Naruto stopped, looking around, he was at the gates of Konoha, _"__Idiot boy, why did you stop?!__"_

"UZUMAKI!" Naruto heard the scream from behind him. He turned and saw Gaara, "I have you now Uzumaki."

A claw of sand raced at him, "Shit!"

Naruto ducked under it, and jumped further back, "Dammit," he ducked as the claw came back and he felt something hit his back and he was airborne.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

Sarutobi was on a roof battling the Kazekage, whom it turned out was Orochimaru, "Give it up, old man. I have far surpassed you."

Sarutobi smiled as he pulled off his robes, "I'm not called 'The Professor' for nothing, Orochimaru-kun."

Underneath his robes was his old armor, a black gi, and a long red scarf trailed from his neck.

Orochimaru smiled, "Serious now, I see."

He ran through a series of seals, "**Edo Tensei (Resurrection to the Impure World)!"**

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

Naruto hit just outside the gates with a dull thud. he coughed as he tried to shift his weight. _"Dammit," _he thought as struggled, _"That hurt."_

He looked up and saw Gaara standing on top of the gates of Konoha, looking down at him, "Is this all you have Uzumaki?"

Naruto got to his feet, making a seal, "I've only begun! **Kage Bushin no Jutsu (Shadow Clone Technique)!**"

Several clones appeared alongside, "Let's get that freak!"

Gaara struck all of the clones that charged him leaving a bare field in front of him, _"Where is he?" _Gaara thought as he scanned the field, _"Where?"_

Gaara saw a small dog being followed by several Shinobi, _"I'll just have to make due with-"_

"**Sennen Goroshi (One Thousand Years of Death)!" **Naruto's cry came from behind him.

Gaara turned to see Naruto with a kunai shoved up the base of his sand tail. He just knocked Naruto away and heard him whisper, "Boom."

The kunai exploded, setting him ablaze, much of the sand falling off, crystallizing into glass. A great flood of sand surrounded Gaara, putting out the fires with a dull hiss.

"Uzumaki," Gaara said quietly as the sand retreated from him, "Mother wants to deal with you personally," he made a series of seals, "**Tanukineiri no Jutsu (Feigning Sleep Technique).**"


	18. Chapter 18, Signs Of A New Menace

I Do Not Own Naruto

A/N I'm giving credit to Narutomaniac because the idea made a lot of sense, Edo Tensai was changed using his idea. Put this in Ninja Wire, I'll put it here too. The order I will be updating stories is: Kon, Ninja Wire, and Fractured Mind. I won't be making any new stories until at least one of these is finished. Also I would like to thank everybody for their patience, I had Strep and it pretty much killed my drive to write, but it's past and I'm back. For a really fucked up video on the creature I had Kakashi fight, look up the name Rokurokubi on , and please leave me a review telling me what you think about the movie. I'm curious, and no that isn't my account.

_Thoughts_

_Unknown, Hanzo, Haohmaru_

"Speaking"

**Jutsu/Demons**

'_**Yami'**_

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

"_**Dammit!"**_ Yami thought to itself, _**"I told that snake to wait until the end of the finals, fuck, I have to," **_Yami made a single seal, _**"KAI!"**_

Inoichi breathed deeply as the entity left his mind. He looked around the arena and started where he was best needed.

He was going to defend his home. Inoichi charged through the streets when he saw three people, two of them looking at him, and another seeming to look behind him, he smirked, "**Shinranshin no Jutsu (Mind Derangement Technique)!**"

One of the two looking at Inoichi froze, and turned towards his comrade, drawing a kunai, "What are doing?!" His comrade shouted at him as he blocked the blade, bewildered by the action, "I can't control myself!"

Inoichi drew a kunai and charged the third guy.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

Kakashi stood before the man he'd chased. The man was very nondescript, he wore a peasants garb and he had short filthy black hair. Kakashi got into a stance as he questioned the man, struggling to get air into his lungs, "Why do you work of Orochimaru?"

The man smiled and rasped out, "We don't."

Kakashi raised his eyebrow at that, "We?"

The man chuckled, "Yes, my mistress does not aid him, but the other way around, and by helping my mistress, he aids our master. Where are my manners, my name is Ito Isao."

Kakashi remembered the man's name. He was a disgraced samurai. This couldn't be the same man, though. First, the man had no sword, and second, the samurai was supposed to have been executed.

As Kakashi regained his breath he raised the Hiate-ate that covered his Sharingan. If this man could almost outrun him, he would need it. He waited for the man to move first as the sun began to dip under the horizon.

Isao merely smiled and got on his knees like he was in somebody's home, "That would almost be unfair, Copy-Cat. My master granted me a gift as well. It's good the old man sent you to fight me instead of those children I was playing with. How nice of you to summon a puppy for them to play," the man's head literally fell off his shoulders when the sun fell under the horizon, the neck lengthening as it coiled like a snake, smiling sadistically, "with. I'm sure that all three will be quite attractive when they get older."

Kakashi ducked as the head charged at him, the neck always being the perfect length to reach him, no matter how far he moved.

Kakashi only muttered one word, as he couldn't feel chakra coming from the man as he attacked him again, "Rokurokubi."

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

Sarutobi watched as coffins slowly started to move up from the ground. The first one had a kanji for first on it, the second one had the kanji for second, the fourth one began to rise, it had the kanji for fourth on it.

Sarutobi connected the numbers and started flinging shuriken at it to stop it from rising, but it came to no avail.

Slowly the first coffin opened revealing the First Hokage. The second coffin opened to reveal the Second Hokage.

"Do you like my jutsu, Sensei?" Orochimaru cooed at Sarutobi, "The jutsu allows me to place the soul of someone passed in a new body for a time.

The third coffin started to open, "I've decided to be merciful, Sensei. This will be quick with the other Hokage's here. Especially him."

The third coffin finished opening, and a single corpse fell out onto the ground. Orochimaru's eyes widened is surprise.

Sarutobi chuckled as he thought about the jutsu, "Are you really so arrogant," he began, "to believe that you could take a soul that the Shinigami himself claimed in honor of his lord(1)?"

"Shut it, Sensei," Orochimaru said as it leveled two kunai and slowly began to put them inside the other Hokage's heads, "These two will still be more than enough to take care of you."

The two froze when they saw the giant cloud of smoke at the gates of the city, it blew away to reveal Gamabunta, and faintly, Sarutobi could see that he had a rider who had blond hair.

"It's like all those years ago," he smiled to himself, "He's more like his father than he realizes. Why would he summon Gamabunta..."

He saw why as a large mound of sand rose in front of the city, slowly taking the shape of a Tanuki.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

Ino, Sakura, Sasuke kept running, following a small pug to get to Naruto, though his guidance was no longer needed, as the giant toad had appeared right at the entrance of the city, along with a thing that looked like a Tanuki.

The small pug, he called himself Pakkun when Kakashi had summoned him to aid them. Ino and Sasuke did not like the way the man they had fought looked at them. He had looked like an ordinary citizen, but fought them on even terms.

He also called himself Isao, and he looked at them the same way a large cat would look at the deer. Then Kakashi had shown up, saying that the Hokage sent him to fight off, and to help protect the Genin.

Their musings were cut short as a large claw of sand wrapped around both of them, gripping them tightly to the tree. It was always holding them tighter.

"**Brat," **the Tanuki said, **"I haven't had a good fight in a long time. Give me one, or your friends die."**

The large toad charged the Tanuki without any urging from it's rider.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

(1) In Japanese mythology, the Shinigami is not the death god. In fact, Shinigami is a western creation, it is the Japanese name for the Grim Reaper. I wanted to keep him, so I made him a subordinate to Emma-o.


	19. Chapter 19, True Color

I Do Not Own Naruto

A/N Sorry, as of July 19, 2008, a friend of mine passed away in a car accident. Cliche, but don't drive drunk.

What do you do when life throws you shit instead of lemons? You can try to flush it down the toilet and hope it doesn't back up. I know I also said I wouldn't start another story, but the plot bunny won't leave me alone, mostly because I'm taking a lot of my friend's goofy ideas for this one. It'll be entitled Konoha's Fool, and I will have a chapter up soon.

Also, if you look at the Kyuubi, you'll notice that he has hands. Literally the same scene that's presented in this chapter.

_Thoughts_

_Unknown, Hanzo, Haohmaru_

"Speaking"

**Jutsu/Demons**

'_**Yami'**_

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

Naruto stared at the form across him, his arms crossed against his chest. He didn't like being this close to the village, but it couldn't be helped. He was latched onto the toad using chakra, the same technique when he was doing the tree walking exercise.

"What do you think, Boss?" Naruto asked.

Gamabunta chuckled, **"It's been a long time since I've had a proper fight, brat," **he took a puff from his pipe and blew into the Tanuki's face, **"Might as well make it count. This brings back memories, kid, just like thirteen years ago."**

"Thirteen years ago?" Naruto asked.

"**Hm? Yes, when your father sealed the Kyuubi," **the toad said matter-of-factly.

Naruto froze, he didn't even register the Tanuki's mad cackle, "That's impossible," he said to himself, barely above a whisper, "The person who sealed the Kyuubi was the Fourth."

"**You didn't know?"** Gamabunta put away his pipe, and drew his blade, **"I find that odd, even the pervert knew about it. I thought you knew."**

Something snapped inside Naruto, "I'll have to have a little chat with him later Boss, let's just deal with this guy now."

"**I guess so, brat,"** Gamabunta sighed, **"Time to take care of business."**

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

Kakashi ducked as the head flew at him, snapping wildly at him. He spun sideways slashing at it with a kunai, hoping to sever it. His eyes widened when the neck moved as a snake, moving at an impossible angle curving around to circle him.

"Little Hatake," Isao laughed a hissing laugh, "You can't hope to beat me. I could send you to meet your father, yes?"

Kakashi was surprised as he followed the head's movement with his Sharingan. The creature moved fast, like a snake that strikes, only at a constant. Also the matter it was just the head made it difficult to predict where it was going to strike even with his Sharingan.

Kakashi's eye's narrowed as Isao mentioned his father, "Such a coward, you'll most certainly meet him."

"What would you know of cowards?" Kakashi said, his voicing lowering as he jumped, flipping on the other side of the neck, "You shirked your duty. You even murdered you wife in an attempt to fake your own death, then when you were found out, you killed your lord."

Isao laughed harder as his neck straightened out, "Is that what they say now? I'll tell you something, little Hatake," his neck shortened, feeding back to his shoulders, "Someday, when your old enough to understand, I'll tell you my story, but not until. We'll keep meeting, Hatake, we are destined to. I'm not meant to die here, and neither are you."

Kakashi hoped to keep him on a monolog a little longer to see where he could strike. Then he noticed something. Throughout their short battle so far, the body had not moved. Kakashi started to gather chakra into his palm.

Isao and Kakashi both shuddered as an ominous aura spread through the city, "Seems your Hokage has done something foolish and summoned one of Emma-o's servants, again. I must go, Hatake."

Kakashi charged at Isao, "**Raikiri (Lightning Blade)!"**

Isao's head quickly met his shoulders and Kakashi charged, "Not yet, I said," Kakashi's felt pain across his chest and heard Isao's blade click cleanly back into the scabbard. His attack dissipated harmlessly.

"You'll be fine later, little Hatake," Kakashi felt numbness spreading from the wound, "It's a paralyzing agent, it won't kill you."

Kakashi slowly began to dip to his knees, "You'll survive, Hatake, and maybe if you grow up I'll tell you a story."

Kakashi fell to his chest and his world went black.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

Naruto struggled to keep his balance as Gamabunta hoped around dodging strikes and returning them with equal ferocity.

Gamabunta took off one of the Tanuki's arms, "**Gamadosuzan (Toad Yakuza Sword Beheading)!"**

"**Brat!" **Gamabunta called as he struck at the Tanuki's waist, and watched idly as the sand slowly formed back into place, **"This is pointless, you need to wake up the medium!"**

"What is a medium?" Naruto asked as he wondered what Gamabunta was saying.

"**That boy," **Gamabunta nodded his head a Gaara, forcing Naruto to grip his head on all fours at the sudden movement, **"When he sleeps, the Ichibi no Shukaku takes over. So to end this, we must wake him up."**

"I can do that boss, but you need to get me close," Naruto called out.

The toad dodged as the Tanuki started belching orbs of air at him, **"Toads aren't meant to catch their pray by getting close, boy. You'll have to use one of those jutsu you're so fond of, the Henge. Think of something with fangs and claws."**

Gamabunta didn't even give Naruto a chance to respond, and started to charge Shukaku.

Naruto made the seal, and used the Henge to turn into the first thing he could think of, **"Henge (Transform)!"**

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

Sasuke watched, almost fascinated by the giant cloud of smoke. He jumped back startled when a giant clawed hand reached out of the smoke, covered in red fur.

Sasuke took an involuntary step back, bumping into Ino and Kiba as he saw the Kyuubi no Kitsune charge out of the smoke, his mouth open in surprise. Ino screamed and Kiba took off into the trees, stopping about thirty feet away when he finally got his fear under control.

Sasuke watched as the toad turned fox latched onto the Tanuki. It surprised Sasuke that the blond had a summon. It also surprised him that he was jealous of the summon. He was the Last Uchiha. He'd gotten everything he'd ever wanted. Sasuke had no need for this new feeling that was foreign to him, and it bothered him.

"Sasuke-kun," he heard the voice behind him, "What's going on? Please," he felt arms start to wrap around him, before he violently shook the girl off.

"I hate you," he said quietly, "you never leave me alone," black marks began to spread across his body, "You're worthless. Your own families jutsu has a flaw," he watched the sand began to flood down towards them, he jumped into a tree alongside Kiba as the sand flooded the area, taking Ino with it.

"Sasuke-kun!" Ino cried as she tried to get a grip on something, trying to pull herself up, the sand making it harder to grip than water.

Sasuke looked down at her before he jumped away, intent on finding the two fighters.

Ino struggled with the sand, before finally getting a hold of a branch and pulling herself up, struggling to keep her balance as she breathed deeply. Kiba looked away when she tried to look him in the eyes. Akamaru gave an apologetic yip from the top of Kiba's head.

Ino looked down as tears started to run down her face. She felt betrayed down to her core, that anybody close, her comrades, would abandon her to die. Soon the sand subsided, and she sat there, unaware that Kiba had taken off to see what Sasuke had gone to see.

"_Hey,__" _Haohmaru began, _"__Boss Lady, are you going to be all right?__"_

Ino shook her head slightly, "I don't know."

"_There's only one cure for this,__" _Haohmaru muttered to himself, _"__That's it! Boss Lady, you have to trust me later, but the boss knew the perfect cure for depression! I'll show when this nasty business is over with. In the mean time, why don't you see how the boss was doing. Kakashi-san wanted us to make sure he would be okay. So let's do our best to cheer him up!__"_

Ino let a small smile come to her face as she nodded, "Right!"

"_After that, I'd suggest going to the medic, your arm got cut up pretty bad while you were in the sand.__"_

Ino nodded absently as she dug into her pouch for bandages, only to find sand had filled it. She undid her pouch and spilled the contents onto the branch. Seeing the bandages, she got as much sand out of them as possible and wrapped up her left arm.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

Kakashi stood before the council with the other Jounin as they gave their recommendations for who should be promoted. He spoke first, "I would like to suggest Nara Shikamaru for promotion, and Uzumaki Naruto."

Seeing the questioning stares, he elaborated, pulling out his little orange book, "Nara Shikamaru showed excellent foresight, and Uzumaki Naruto, while rough, showed the true Will of Fire."

"And the Uchiha?" Asked one of the council members.

Kakashi closed his book with an audible snap, shocking many of the shinobi present, "I would not even consider him for promotion, both for his serious lack of judgement, and for the Sandaime's wishes, and he stated quite plainly that the Uchiha will not be promoted. To do so would be insubordination, even if he is dead," he glared at the council member who asked, "to even promote him would mean death for anybody who does so."

To everyone's surprise, Inoichi spoke up, "In light of the invasion, I would also like to suggest that he is to be put on notice. During the invasion, due to his inaction he endangered the life of a clan heiress. My clan's heiress to be exact. I endorse Kakashi-san's suggestion."

Many a little more than half of the council grudgingly agreed, they could not so easily explain away the actions of the Uchiha. The other Jounin voiced their agreement, making the promotions, and the notice final. Nara Shikamaru and Uzumaki Naruto were to be promoted to Chuunin, and Uchiha Sasuke was to be put on notice for endangering a comrade's life through direct and aware inaction.


	20. Chapter 20, Hama Akemi

I Do Not Own Naruto

"Speaking"

"**Jutsu, Demon"**

"_**Haohmaru, Hanzo, Unknown"**_

"**OTHER ENTITY"**

A/N Again, sorry for the long wait. Back to college, full-time job and sixteen hour days. Joy. Anyways, here's a new, long overdue chapter for Fractured Mind.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

Naruto stood in a line with all of the Konoha Genin who had made it through the exam, on his left was Sasuke, and to his right was Ino. He raised an eyebrow, when she nervously glanced on the other side of him at Sasuke.

"Um," he started, barely a whisper, "Ino-chan?"

Ino's eyes snapped up at Naruto's mismatched eyes, "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," she looked down, "we should be quiet, the council will be entering."

Agonizingly slow to Naruto, the council slowly filed into the room, coming to their seats. Many sneered down at him.

Naruto stood in front of the council, staring back with an impassive face, "It has been decided who shall be awarded the title of Chuunin," a Hyuuga began, his gaze sweeping Genin before him, "We award the title of Chuunin to: Nara Shikamaru, please step forward.

Shikamaru stepped forward stiffly, "For your ability to think in battle, and the ability to plan ahead, you are awarded the rank of Chuunin."

The Hyuuga handed the vest to Shikamaru whom bowed, "Thank you, Hyuuga-sama."

Shikamaru put the vest on as he moved back into line.

"We also give the rank of Chuunin to," Inoichi began stiffly, "Uzumaki Naruto."

Naruto's eyes widened as his breath caught in his throat. He was nudged forward by Ino with a fierce whisper in his ear, "That's my father, Baka."

"For your service to your village, and for your dedication to her, and for surpassing all expectations of yourself," Inoichi moved to hand down the vest, "and for you ability to inspire others around you."

Naruto stiffly walked forward, bowing as he received the coat from the elder, "Thank you, Yamanaka-sama."

"Naruto," Inoichi began in a whisper, "I apologize for all the trouble I have caused you in the past. I have yet to thank you for taking care of my daughter, please come by our home tonight, and you had better not be wearing that orange coat."

Naruto nodded as started to unzip his coat, slipping it off to wear the Chunnin vest over his black undershirt. He quietly held the corner with his pale hand.

"Uchiha Sasuke," Sasuke smirked as he started to walk forward, "You are given notice, for the willful abandonment of a comrade in need."

Sasuke froze, "You are not awarded the title of Chuunin, nor will you ever be if this is your belief in the duties of a Ninja."

The Hyuuga stood again as Inoichi sat back down, "Uchiha-san, return to your post."

"Great job to all of you," he began, "It is fortunate we have so many outstanding Genin. Those of you who didn't make it this year are given a recommendation, and we look for to watching you participate next year."

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

"_**Great,"**_ Hanzo started, _**"You've got a some of what you want now, are you down with this foolishness?"**_

"Why are you so angry?" Naruto muttered, ignoring the stares as he walked by people, "Can't you be quiet for five seconds?"

"_**Not happening, boy,"**_ Naruto could almost hear the sneer, _**"Just because you had to play hero. You're a ninja, you have rules, and you should follow them to the letter."**_

"Why? So I can watch my friends die?" Naruto asked with a growl.

"_**Sometimes, a sacrifice has to be made for the village-**_" Hanzo began.

"Shut up," Naruto said coldly.

"Village may come first, but my friends are also my comrades," Naruto said, "And Kakashi-sensei said that people who disobey the rules are trash, and those who abandon their comrades are worse than trash."

"_**Hmph,"**_ Hanzo huffed before going silent.

"Jerk," Naruto muttered to himself.

"Hey, Naruto!" Naruto turned to see Ino running towards him.

"Yeah, Ino-chan?" Naruto asked, noting the bandage on her arm.

"Father said that you are coming over tonight?" Ino asked him curiously.

"Yeah," Naruto said with a nervous smile.

"_**What are you waiting for, an invitation?!"**_ Haohmaru practically screamed.

Ino kept going without skipping a beat, "Well at least you dumped that coat of yours, you look better like this."

Naruto blushed slightly, "Thanks."

"Father says to come at 8 o'clock," Ino said before turning around, "and Naruto?"

"Yeah, Ino-chan," Naruto started to turn.

"Thanks," with that Ino took off running.

"What for?" Naruto thought out loud.

"_**And at times you are dense boy,"**_ Naruto's other voice said, _**"I would love a chance to play with her again..."**_

"Not happening, freak," Naruto said bluntly as an old man just stared at him, "I'm going to wash up."

Naruto kept walking down the block, "Uzumaki-san."

"Can this wait, guys?" Naruto asked as ANBU quickly moved around him.

"I'm sorry, Uzumaki-san, but Morino-san has requested your immediate presence," the ANBU said.

"Al-" Naruto slumped onto the ground.

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"You know, Ibiki," Naruto mumbled, "I did have plans tonight."

"Don't worry, Naruto," Ibiki chuckled, "You're date with Ino will go just fine."

Naruto's eyes widened, "D-D-DATE?! We aren't going on a date, her father asked me to come over!"

Ibiki smirked, leaning back in his chair, "Oh, that's all? Must be important for a member of the council to want to see you in their own home."

"What do you want to talk to me about, Ibiki?" Naruto looked to the side.

"Your bloodline, Naruto," Ibiki sighed, "I have someone I want you to meet."

Ibiki went over and opened the door to his office, "Bring her in."

Naruto quirked an eyebrow, "The eyes, in most bloodlines do something, Naruto," Ibiki began to explain, "There is almost never any wasted space, like nature if you will."

Naruto nodded, letting Ibiki continue, "I have a small theory, and I want you to meet a woman we're having brought up. Her name is-"

"I can walk on my own you stupid little shit!" Naruto heard a woman's voice from the hall.

"-Hama Akemi."

A woman burst through the door flanked by two ANBU. She was tall, taller than Ibiki, with a slim figure that was covered in a dark red kimono. She had long black hair that ended just at her waist and had piercing gray eyes. She wore a bandage that covered the lower half of her face.

"Ibiki-teme," She spat out, "What do you need me for, on short notice."

"Hama-san," Ibiki began, "This is Naruto. I want you to talk with him, and give me an analysis of his psychosis."

Akemi turned towards Naruto, "This brat, huh?"

She looked sideways at Ibiki, "No."

"You don't get a choice on the matter, Akemi."

The woman stiffened when she heard Ibiki use her first name, "Fine. Come with me, brat."


	21. Chapter 21, Is This the First Stage?

I Do Not Own Naruto

"Speaking"

"**Jutsu, Demon"**

"_**Haohmaru, Hanzo, Unknown"**_

"**OTHER ENTITY"**

A/N No stories of mine will ever be abandoned, thank you to those who are concerned, but it would make me a hypocrite to abandon a story. Onward.

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Naruto sat in a small office by himself, staring at the woman in front of him; she did to him as well. A small ticking noise was heard from the clock as the two stared at each other for what seemed like hours, both avoiding eye contact.

"Um, Akemi-chan?" Naruto started, only to be fiercely backhanded.

"In my presence, Uzumaki-san, you will be formal. I have been instructed to analyze your disorder, are you ready?"

"Hai, Ak-," Naruto stopped as she raised her hand, "Hama-san."

"Good, you learn quickly, brat. Lean back," she said as made a few hand signs, "and make eye contact."

She focused on him; Naruto met her eyes and felt several snaps. Naruto didn't catch the Jutsu's name as his head felt like it exploded. Tears stung at Naruto's eyes as his vision swam, he looked at the woman's face and he thought he saw a monster with an insane fang filled grin before he blacked out.

A quiet voice echoed through his ears, "Geez, brat, your mind really is a sewer."

Naruto struggled to his feet as a mass of black tendrils released a firm, but gentle hold on him. Akemi looked at him indifferently, "Most men's mind's are in the gutter, but this gives new meaning to the phrase."

"How are you here?" Naruto asked groggily.

"We are in a Genjutsu right now, Naruto," Akemi started, "My consciousness isn't really here, I'm a spectator right now," she went to brush his cheek and her hand passed right through him, "see?"

"So, boy," a slithering voiced echoed in the sewer, "You're back with some more fresh meat to play with."

Large, black began to twist around in a menacing pattern, a pattern that reminded Naruto of snakes.

A deep, terrible voice boomed through the sewers, **"You will not touch the boy."**

Naruto could hear the voice's face scrunch in distaste, "Damn vixen's awake."

The tendrils menaced closer before a wall of red energy washed over him, and several screams echoed, forcing Naruto to clap his hands over his ears.

Akemi took note of the incident in her mind, watching in interest as the tendrils were burned to nothing, _"Personality One: Sadist, possible masochist. From how those things moved, seems to enjoy inflicting fear and pain."_

She saw more tendrils start to grow out of a pod a rapid pace. There was a crack in it, and she swore that she saw a glint as she looked at it. She was snapped out of her reverie as another voice spoke.

"Bitch," a growl echoed after the comment, "even if it's him that causes the problems, it hurts the rest of us, too."

Akemi's eyes widened, _"Us?"_

"How many of you are there?" She asked.

"Troublesome woman,"

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In a field, a boy watching clouds sneezed.

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the voice said, making her growl in a way to was not too dissimilar to the low growl earlier, "There's a lot more now. So far, only three of us are awake."

"Awake?"

"Yeah," Akemi heard the sarcasm, "as in, not sleeping."

"_Personality Two: If he had balls, I'd castrate him. Sarcastic and appears to be lazy or uncaring. He, if it is a he, didn't even attempt to help Naruto, will have to research more," _Akemi thought as her eyebrow twitched.

"Who's number three?" she asked.

"Oh," the voice answered, "he's not home right now. I suspect he's trying to further the foolish brat here along."

"Furtherer?" Akemi asked.

"**Enough, Hanzo," **the dark voice echoed, **"My Jailor is here, and I can only assume that the fool wants something."**

Naruto stumbled forward, "Stupid Fox," he mumbled.

Soon he came to a wide room, it held a large cage, and he could see the red eyes looking back at him. The black tendrils ran around the room like misshapen tree roots, all stopping shy of the cage. They moved constantly.

"**Amusing that a weak creature like you can stand before me now," **the creature scoffed, **"Even if it was with help."**

The eyes looked him over, **"You're scrawny, but I suppose you'll do. As much as I hate the idea of giving some primate access to my power, we both have to live brat. I'll let you have access to some of my power. Now leave."**

"Don't let the door swat," a tendril slashed across Naruto's face, scoring across his right eye, "your ass, boy."

Naruto's vision faded into reality as he clutched his face. He drew back his hand and saw blood and felt a stinging in his left eye. He blinked rapidly and felt something fall out of his eye.

"Well, that's interesting," Akemi said.

Naruto looked at her and screamed. The creature he saw was not a woman, it was, but only just. What Naruto saw was a creature with hair that moved on it's own, with solid black eyes and a fang filled _hole_ where the mouth should have been.

"Naruto?!?" the thing asked.

"A-a-akemi-chan?" Naruto stuttered.

"I'll let it slide this time, brat," the thing slid closer to him and he shrank away, he saw it held up a mirror, "Given the state of your mind and body, I don't think it would do any good."

Naruto saw a pair of yellow eyes looking back at him, with blood streaking down the left side of his face.

A blue thing was stuck in the corner of his eye. He grabbed at it, and felt a disgusting feeling as something slid around his socket. He tried to put the thing together to see what it was, and saw the image of his own eye looking up at him.

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"People look different to me now, Ibiki-san," Naruto said.

"Yes, your description of Akemi-san was quite intriguing," Ibiki was taking notes, "What do you see when you looking at me?"

"The same," Naruto said, "Only you're constantly crying tears of blood."

Ibiki nearly froze at the statement; quickly he moved on to a different subject, "I got a gift for you, Naruto."

"Really?" Naruto asked with anticipation.

"Since you are having dinner with a council member tonight," Ibiki said as he drew out a box, "I got you a Kimono to wear. I figured that you did not have anything formal, so I got it for you. I want you to wear this to it."

Naruto opened to find an orange kimono with black trim, "It's simple, but it fits you. Now get out of here."

When Naruto left, Ibiki took out a cigarette, and lit it, something he rarely ever did. He took his pen and wrote down a small note at the bottom of his paper, _"Whatever happened today seems to have locked the first set of Naruto's unstable gene structure from the emergence of this new bloodline. He seemed to see what the true nature of myself, and most importantly was the disturbing imagery, and his inability to understand exactly what he saw. I have never been truly proud in my work, only the pride that I serve my village in the quietest of ways keeps me in my position as the Head of Torture and Interrogation. I am not proud, but in the early stages of my career, I cried myself to sleep every night for months, and not a day goes by where I am not saddened but what I must do to protect my home and family. I have decided to further investigate the matter of Naruto's bloodline as I was instructed by the third until I am given the order to not do anymore research. If my theory is correct, the bloodline has great potential, but it has a great cost. I can only pray that there is a way for them to it that does not have a cost like the bastard Uchiha clan. Next time I must delve into the 'rubber band' theory. Naruto has mentioned these 'snap' occurrences that have occurred only when he's made eye contact with people who've..."_

Ibiki's eyes snapped up, as he drew several shuriken towards the shadows in his office, several fleshy thuds were heard as two masked men fell out of the shadows. He inspected the masks and smiled to himself.

"_Interesting to note that Root may be after the boy, being so bold as to hide in my own office. I'll keep this to myself for now and I will see what Danzo's next move is."_


	22. Chapter 22, A Dinner

I Do Not Own Naruto

"Speaking"

"**Jutsu, Demon"**

"_**Haohmaru, Hanzo, Unknown"**_

"**OTHER ENTITY"**

A/N An extended weekend from work. An early Merry Christmas to everyone, thought I am working on a special for the holiday, for all of my stories. Expect these chapters to be out either Christmas Eve or Christmas Day.

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Naruto knocked nervously at the Yamanaka household's door, dressed the Kimono that Ibiki had gotten him. Mostly he was nervous from this newfound 'gift' that he'd gotten. Naruto was afraid of what he would see when the door opened.

Naruto knocked again, and the door opened, to reveal Ino, and Naruto gasped. She looked the same, with barely a black, spidery highlight in her eyes. She was also dressed in a Kimono, a purple one with white trim.

"Wow," Ino said with a small laugh, "None of us expected you to actually dress for the occasion."

"Ibiki-sensei gave me this today," Naruto said sheepishly.

Ino stopped, "Ibiki-sensei? The man who gave the first exam?" She questioned nervously.

"Yeah," Naruto said scratching the back of his head.

"Ino?" A soft, feminine voice echoed, "Are you just going to stand there, let him in."

Ino blushed before allowing Naruto in. He removed his sandals and followed Ino down through to the family room.

There sat Ino's mother, or so he assumed. She wasn't as scary as he thought she would be, at least compared to his earlier experience. She was a beautiful woman, with long blond hair and blue eyes. It was the eyes that caught his attention, they had an almost primal hunger in them. She smiled and he saw rows upon rows of sharp pointy teeth.

Not hesitating he bowed, Ino quirked an eyebrow, "Mom, this is Uzumaki Naruto," she said, "Naruto this is my mother Yamanaka Hisae."

"Hello, Yamanaka-san," Naruto said.

"I thought you said that he was an uncultured idiot?" Hisae said looking at Ino.

Ino blushed heavily, "It's alright, um..." Naruto struggled with the name for a moment, "Go ahead and call me Hisae," the woman smiled.

"Hisae-chan," Naruto continued as the woman quirked an amused eyebrow, "I can thank Ibiki-sensei and," Naruto looked around quickly, "Akemi-chan for lessons in etiquette."

"Akemi?" Hisae asked, "Hama Akemi?"

"Yes," Naruto answered warily.

"I really do feel for you now," she said with a chuckle, "Anyway, Inoichi will be here shortly."

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Inoichi soon arrived and they all began to eat in a very tense silence. Naruto seemed to be staring at the side Inoichi's head.

"Naruto," Inoichi began, breaking the silence, "First, I'd like to apologize. I will do so properly after dinner. So, in the meantime, why don't you tell us a little about yourself."

So, Naruto began to tell stories of his adventures, starting from the time he caught Mizuki. He ran through even his teams multiple captures of Tora, the Fire Daiyamo's Wife's cat, which Ino cringed at the name. Ending with the defeat of Shukaku.

"Those are interesting tales Naruto," Inoichi said as he finished his plate, "Are those all true."

Naruto nodded through a mouthful of food, earning a chuckle from the man, "That was a wonderful dinner, Hisae-chan. Naruto, come with me."

Ino and Hisae watched Naruto and Inoichi leave, "So what do you think?"

Hisae asked her daughter, "Huh?" Ino looked at her mother.

"About Naruto?" Hisae asked playfully, grabbing dishes and starting to put them away.

"He's okay, I guess. I never really got to know him," Ino said quietly, "Those stories can't all be true though, Sasuke-" Ino stopped in mid sentence, "Actually, Naruto might have done them. Sasuke has never done anything."

Hisae smiled at her daughter, "Finally past that phase are we?"

"He left me to die, mom," Ino said sadly, helping her mother.

"What did you see when you entered Naruto's mind?" Hisae asked.

"It looked like it was infested," Ino said honestly.

"Ino," Hisae began, "Naruto has had problems in his life. Many problems. He's actually seeing Ibiki on account that he's developed mental disorders."

"What?" Ino asked.

"In short, Ino-chan," Hisae said sadly, "Naruto's insane."

"But he can't be," Ino said hotly, "he saved me when I went into his mind. He saved me from the growths that were there. He saved me-"

"Naruto saved you from his madness," Hisae said flatly, "despite all of his issues, though," Hisae leaned playfully close to her daughter, "You've made a good choice."

"W-what?!" Ino sputtered.

Hisae giggled, "I'd say give it a chance. Either way, I hope your father finishes soon."

Ino finished quietly struggling with what her mother was insinuating, ignoring the shouting that was heard further in the house.

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Naruto sat across form Inoichi in the man's study, and the man contemplated him. Before Naruto knew it, the grown man bowed deeply in front of Naruto.

"Uzumaki-san," Inoichi said, his face inches from the floor, "I must apologize for my crass, and utterly unprofessional and inappropriate behavior. I have treated you, while now a Chuunin, then a Genin, a comrade, most unfavorably. I offer my services as the Head of the Yamanaka clan to your disposal."

"Inoichi-san," Naruto said sweating, "Could you please sit up, this really isn't necessary..."

"But it is Naruto," Inoichi said, still on the ground, "This is all I truly have to offer. I let my anger blind me, it let things in."

"Inoichi-san, I forgive you, just please stand up," Naruto said nervously.

"I thank you Naruto," Inoichi said, sitting up, "I'm serious about what I said, anything you need a hand with, the Yamanaka clan is behind you. I'm even giving you permission to date my daughter," he finished with a smirk.

"WHAT!?!" Naruto screamed, "I'm not there yet, I'm not sure I even want to, I mean-"

"Are you saying my daughter is undesirable?" Inoichi asked with a completely serious face.

"NO! Wait what I mean is-" Naruto rambled on.

Inoichi broke out laughing, and Naruto stopped.

"I was joking Naruto," Inoichi kept chuckling, "All joking aside, I know about your sessions with Ibiki-san. I'm sorry to say Naruto that there is no cure for mental disorders, but I think I might be able to help you."

Naruto looked at the man quietly, "You are a Schizophrenic, correct?" Naruto nodded, "How many personalities, voices, are there?"

"At least three," Naruto said quietly.

"I think I might be able to make something for you," Inoichi said smiling, "I want you to promise me, that after I make this for you, that no one outside the Yamanaka or Uzumaki blood ever look at it."

Naruto nodded, "Good, of course I will take precautions, but having your word is a good sign, as such-"

A knock was heard at the front door.

"Excuse me Naruto," Inoichi left the room quietly, and Naruto heard muffled voices.

"Naruto," Inoichi poked his head in the study, "A man is here to see you. I have to bid you goodnight, Naruto. I must get back and help my wife before she gets an ideas of me taking my time."

Inoichi left out of the room and Naruto walked out to the front door, to see a smiling Jiraiya, "Wow, I didn't think you had it in you to aim this high. Going after a council man's daughter, good choice."

"WHY DOES EVERYONE THINK THAT!" Naruto screamed, "Ero-sennin," Jiraiya grimaced, "Why are you here?"

"Oh," Jiraiya laughed slightly, "We have a mission Naruto, effective tomorrow, we are to try and find my old teammate Tsunade and convince her to take up the post of Hokage."


	23. Chapter 23, Holy Crap You're Old

I Do Not Own Naruto

"Speaking"

"**Jutsu, Demon"**

"_**Haohmaru, Hanzo, Unknown"**_

"**OTHER ENTITY"**

A/N Loving having so actual free time, I enjoy writing these stories, so it makes my day to work on them for extended periods, finals week, and I know my stuff, so I'm not really studying.

Update: So here I am nursing a hangover and wondering 'how on earth did I screw THAT up?' I pretty sure the hangover should be my clue. Oh well, fixed now.

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Naruto walked along with Jiraiya, wearing his orange pants, but he wore a black shirt with his Chuunin vest over it. He walked beside the old man, every once in a while glance at him as he wrote on a small notepad of his.

"What are you writing?" Naruto finally asked.

A long perverted grin spread across Jiraiya's face, "You didn't know? I am the famous author of the ever famous," Jiraiya whipped out a small orange book, "ICHA ICHA PARADISE!"

Naruto looked at the book for a moment before an expression of understanding spread across his face, making him look almost serene, "Oh," he said thoughtfully, "You write that ridiculous smut that Kakashi-sensei always reads."

Jiraiya dove head first into the ground into the ground as Naruto kept walking, "Sensei? What are you doing?"

"Nothing," Jiraiya whimpered as he kept tears at bay.

"Let's go find this old lady your always going on about," Naruto shrugged, still moving.

Jiraiya caught up, shaking his head. This boy just had no clue. They went from town to town, all big gambling town. Jiraiya told Naruto that the woman, Tsunade, loved to gamble.

"Isn't gambling a thing Shinobi shouldn't do?" Naruto asked.

"Yes," Jiraiya explained, "There are three things a Shinobi should never indulge in, they are alcohol, gambling, and women."

"Your a poor Shinobi again," Naruto said, seeing Jiraiya's hand inch slowly toward Naruto's wallet. Naruto whipped out a Kunai, landing it squarely between Jiraiya's fingers, "Nobody but me touches Gama-chan," Naruto said as he hugged his bulging frog wallet close.

Jiraiya nodded, _"Rule Number One, Never touch a crazy person's wallet."_

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They walked into another town that Jiraiya said they had a lead at, and left Naruto to his own devices. Naruto wandered the town, coming upon a festival that was going on. He wandered the stalls, looking from trinket to trinket, many of the shopkeepers keeping a careful distance from him. Soon he came upon one.

"What are all these tags?" Naruto asked, as the lady smiled, barely fazed by his bizarre appearance.

"These are for a lottery this town holds," The woman smiled at him, seeing the questioningly look, she continued, "A lottery is where people by tickets and have a chance at winning a lot of money."

Naruto nodded before handing the lady some money, neverminding that she looked like a predator staring down pret, "I'll take one I guess."

The lady nodded before handing Naruto his change and a ticket, "Come back after the festival, to check the numbers and see if you won!"

Naruto nodded before leaving to see more of the festival. He saw a crowd of people and leapt to the side of a building to get a better view, and saw sever dancers dressed in strange outfits, leaping about two people who were dressed in a lion's outfit.

"Hey!" Naruto called down to a random person, "What's this here?"

The man did a double take looking at Naruto taking a slight step back, "This is the lion's dance," he began, "It's tradition in most villages, haven't you ever been to a festival before?"

"I was never allowed to go," Naruto answered before turning back to the dance.

When it was over, he went back to the booth with the tickets, the woman wore a bright smile, though she looked slightly crestfallen, "Hey!" She called, "You won!"

Naruto checked the numbers on his ticket and indeed saw that he won, "Wow!" Naruto said, "How much?"

The woman kept smiling, "The Jackpot!"

She handed Naruto a large wad of money, and Naruto struggled to put it in his wallet, "I really should get a bank account," he mumbled to himself.

Jiraiya came back behind him, "Naruto! I found out were Tsunade-hime is!"

"Really?" Naruto looked back at him, "Where?"

"The next town over, but we have to hurry, she moves quick."

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Naruto and Jiraiya made it to the next town quickly, and they hit up all the casinos and bars looking for this woman, "Damn," Jiraiya said, "She's already moved on," he sighed, "at least we know what direction she was heading."

Naruto glared at the old man, "I'm getting of this Jiraiya, can't you at least teach me something?"

Jiraiya thought for a moment, before nodding, "I have an idea, go set up camp and I'll be back shortly."

Naruto was poking the fire with a stick as Jiraiya wondered back into the camp, holding a box, he propped it down in front of Naruto. He reached in a handed the boy a water balloon.

Naruto looked at him quizzically, "I'm going to show you how to do a technique taught to me by the Yondaime," Jiraiya said, his smile matching that of the boy's.

Jiraiya held out a water balloon and popped it in his palm, water spraying out, "You have to swirl you chakra and get the water balloon to pop."

Naruto nodded and held a water balloon out, and almost instantly it spun like a top, nearly flat, Jiraiya looked on in shock, "Who taught you such a level of chakra control?"

"Kurenai-sensei," Naruto said, spinning the chakra faster, the balloon stretched completely flat, "There's something you're not telling me about this."

Jiraiya nodded, "That's for you to figure out."

Naruto nodded and looked back at the balloon, spinning it a different way, but getting the same result.

Jiraiya went to bed, leaving Naruto to his training.

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Jiraiya awoke to find Naruto staring at the balloon, it was several paces from him. He was staring at the balloon so hard, it was almost as if he expected the balloon to tell him how to do it. Suddenly Naruto cocked his head as if listening to something, then he nodded.

Jiraiya watched as Naruto picked up the balloon again, and this time it exploded in no time, showering water over the two of them.

Naruto looked at him with a wet, happy smile, "Sensei, I did it!"

Jiraiya was astounded, "Amazing Naruto, that step alone took me three months to figure out, how did you manage it?"

"Hanzo gave me a suggestion," Naruto stated as he popped another one.

"Hanzo?" Jiraiya asked.

"He's one of the voices that Ibiki-sensei says isn't real," Naruto said quietly.

Jiraiya only stared at the boy in bewilderment, "Naruto," he began, "How often do you listen to these voices?"

"I used to listen to Haohmaru all the time, but I don't hear him much anymore," Naruto sounded sad, "and Hanzo a lazy good for nothing, but he has some good ideas."

Jiraiya nodded, not saying anything else, _"I'd better say something to Ibiki-san when we get back."_

"Well Naruto, since you've finished that step, we'll move on to the next," he pulled out a rubber ball, and held it in front of him, the ball exploding with more force.

"The second step is power," Jiraiya explained, "You have to put a lot more force into the earlier step. Because the ball is rubber it is a lot harder, and because it lacks the water, giving you a feel for the movement, it is also harder that way. You try."

Naruto held the balloon in front of himself and got a single lump to form out of it.

"Not bad," Jiraiya examined, "Once you get that I'll show you the final step."

The week went by, Naruto getting close several times before he'd have to stop, panting. Naruto began to think about how most Jutsu worked, and realized they stored before release. He started doing just that, build up quick with a lot of power, "Um, Sensei?"

Naruto asked, "What is it Naruto?"

"How much chakra should I build up before releasing?" Naruto asked and Jiraiya smiled.

"Why don't you try it real quick and see?" Jiraiya said.

Naruto nodded and released the chakra, causing a large explosion that blew both Jiraiya and Naruto into opposite ends of the path, into the forest.

"Not bad Naruto," Jiraiya mumbled pulling twigs out of his hair, "I'll show you the next step later, after we've found Tsunade-hime," Jiraiya stated.

Naruto looked up and to his surprise, he found himself standing outside the gates of another village, "I was a little focused," Naruto mumbled.

They wandered the bars until Jiraiya had a wide smile on his face, "Tsunade-hime!"

Naruto looked at the woman Jiraiya was hailing, followed the man up to a small table, "Jiraiya," a woman with long blond pigtails, wearing a green jacket said, "Why are you here?"

"I have a proposition," Jiraiya began before the woman, who noticed Naruto staring at her went, "What brat?"

"Holy crap you're old," Naruto stated, his blank yellow eyes filled with surprise.


	24. Chapter 24, Crash Course

I Do Not Own Naruto

"Speaking"

"**Jutsu, Demon"**

"_**Haohmaru, Hanzo, Unknown"**_

"**OTHER ENTITY"**

A/N Hope you like this one, shorter chap, but I've got a lot of work this weekend, and my buddy from the Marines is supposed to be down. Sorry for it's shortness.

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"What did you say, brat," Tsunade ground out, Jiraiya was backing away before bumping into a waitress, his hand clutching at the hem of her skirt as he tripped to the ground, a hard lump was felt on top of his head. He lay on the ground clutching his head.

"Pervert," the woman snorted before wandering to other customers.

"I only said you look your age!" Naruto said, trying to defend himself completely ignoring a fallen Jiraiya, "I mean you look like the old man, only a woman."

Naruto found himself launched outside, clutching his jaw, "Itai," Naruto ground out, "What's the matter with you Baachan?"

Tsunade came storming out, knocking over other patrons as Naruto scrambled to his feat, "Is it a fight you want? Be ready because I'm going to be Hokage someday."

Tsunade stopped, "Hokage, huh?"

Naruto ignored the shushing sign Jiraiya was giving him, "Yeah, Baachan, I'm going to be Hokage."

"Stupid brat," Tsunade huffed, "Being Hokage is for fools. Many die try to obtain that goal."

"I don't care, as long as I die defending those I care about," Naruto glared defiantly at her.

"Huh," Tsunade scoffed, "I bet I can take you on with one finger."

"You're on," Naruto said with a smirk.

Naruto haphazardly charged the woman whom had a smirk of her own. When Naruto was in distance, the woman flicked him and he went flying back.

The woman shuddered feeling a sticky feeling on Naruto skin that seemed to stay with her, "Don't you bathe, brat?" The woman taunted.

"I don't know what you're talking about, Baachan," Naruto shakily stood up looking her dead in the eyes, feeling a single snap.

Tsunade absently wiped at her hand as the feeling seemed to crawl up her arm, "I mean why do you feel so disgusting?"

Naruto quirked an eyebrow, "Baachan?"

Tsunade was quickly running through a healing jutsu as the feeling got up to her face, knowing it wasn't the fact that the boy felt unclean.

"What?" She mumbled going over what she found out, "This is your chakra."

"Baachan?" Naruto repeated as his form wavered in her eyes.

"Big sis?" A younger voice called.

Tsunade's eyes snapped up seeing a vision from her past. A young boy, who looked nearly identical to Naruto. It asked a hard question.

"Big sis?" He repeated, "Why'd you let me die?"

"Nawaki," Tsunade took a step forward as the figure came close to her, "I didn't mean..."

A sound broke through the vision. A strange swirling sound as it got closer.

Tsunade barely had time to notice Nawaki's yellow eyes before she instinctively dodging flicking Naruto against his forehead, throwing him back again.

"Did you teach him that?" Tsunade glared at Jiraiya.

"I haven't finished yet," Jiraiya had a strange smile on his face.

"Worthless," Tsunade spat as she picked up a frog wallet that fell out of Naruto pocket. She found herself having to pound off Naruto with renewed vigor.

"NOBODY TOUCHES GAMMA-CHAN BUT ME!" Naruto screamed at her, trying desperately to get his wallet back, finding himself this time on the receiving end of an extremely hard punch.

"I'll make you another bet brat," Tsunade said, seeing the bulging wallet, "If you can master that technique, the Rasengan, in on week, I'll give you Gama-chan back as well as this necklace."

"Tsunade-sama," the black haired woman in a kimono took a step forward.

"If you don't master it," Tsunade said, eyeing the wallet, "I get to keep Gama-chan."

"I don't need a week," Naruto growled, "I can have it master in three days, one final condition. If I win, you come back to Konoha and be the Hokage."

"We have a bet then," Tsunade said pocketing the wallet, walking off.

"Pervert," Naruto called over to Jiraiya, "What's the third stage?"

Jiraiya smiled at Naruto enthusiasm.

"The third stage, Naruto," Jiraiya began, "Is to contain the jutsu inside a balloon with out popping it."

Jiraiya whipped out a balloon out of nowhere, blowing it up to show Naruto, then holding up his other hand, a small blue ball in his hand, "Get to work brat."

Naruto ran off while Jiraiya nudged the woman beside him, "So, Shizune-chan, do you want to...?"

Jiraiya felt what felt like a sledgehammer on the top of his head, "No, I need to talk Tsuande-sama and Naruto-kun out of this."

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Jiraiya was nursing two large lumps as he talked with Tsunade, "You shouldn't be too rough on that kid, Tsunade-hime."

"Why not?" Tsunade huffed.

"You know he was only talking about what he saw," Jiraiya smiled.

"What do you mean that little creep bastard saw?" Tsunade asked, sipping on Sake, "What was he saying about me being the Hokage?"

"Sensei is dead," Jiraiya said sadly, actually making Tsunade set her Sake down, "What?"

"Orochimaru killed him," Jiraiya explained.

"Hn," Tsunade looking into her sake, "Another one claimed by that ridiculous title."

"You know," Jiraiya said, "That boy is amazing."

"How so? Just another spoiled bloodline brat," Tsunade broke out.

"Not true," Jiraiya corrected, "Naruto's lost his sanity, it appears to be because he's changed so much. Naruto didn't used to have a bloodline, he's the first of his kind."

"I'll bet the council's still at his feet," Tsunade shrugged.

"No," Jiraiya said leaning closer, "He's the Kyuubi child."

Tsunade's eyes widened, "That was him?"

"Yeah," Jiraiya smiled, "You are so screwed, he mastered the first two steps in less than two weeks."

Tsunade sighed and drooped her head, "Dammit it."

"Looks like you lost, Tsunade-him," Jiraiya had a perverted smile on his face, "Wanna make a bet with me?"

Jiraiya found his face lodge through the table, "Not on your life, Jiraiya."


	25. Christmas Special

I Do Not Own Naruto

"Speaking"

"**Jutsu, Demon"**

"_**Haohmaru, Hanzo, Unknown"**_

"**OTHER ENTITY"**

A/N Sorry that most of these are flashbacks, and the lateness, comp problems. Enjoy.

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Naruto struggled with the finally stage of the Rasengan over the next three days. He decided to take a quick breather, thinking of the whole situation.

"_That old lady's gonna be Hokage, huh?" _He thought to himself, _"What a laugh. I am going to prove her wrong, though. She will be Hokage if I have anything to say about it."_

Naruto crossed his legs, thinking about the whole situation, "I miss Ojiji," he mumbled to himself, "At least he was kind to me. I wonder how'd she treat me."

"Naruto!" A woman's voice called out.

He looked to his side and saw the black haired woman who was with Tsunade come running up to him, "Naruto, thank goodness I found you. You need to stop this."

"Excuse me?" Naruto shot her a blank glare.

"You have to stop, you don't-" The woman started off.

"Why should I?" Naruto asked, "She insulted the title of Hokage, she insulted one of the few people who ever cared about me."

"She's had a hard life, you couldn't possibly," the woman could almost feel the temperature drop.

"I couldn't possibly what?" Naruto asked icily, "Right now I'm feared because of how I look, people looked down on me before then, and to top it off I hear voices in my head. Don't tell me I don't know a hard life. Sit down."

The woman didn't know what pushed her to obey, but she sat down, "Um..." Naruto trailed off looking at her.

"Shizune," she said.

"Shizune," Naruto began, sitting down, "She insulted the old man by saying only fools want the position, and I will not let that sit. I was an orphan..." Naruto began his story.

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Naruto sat rocking on the balls of his feet, ignoring the looks the woman behind the counter kept sending him.

Presently a female ANBU stepped behind him with purple hair done in a ponytail, "Uzumaki-san?"

The woman looked hopeful at the sign of ANBU, "Yeah?"

"I'm here to watch after you while the Hokage finishes his business," She said standing stock still.

Naruto looked at her mask, noting it was a snake, "Um," he began, "Hebi-chan, what do you want to do?"

"I am here to watch after you," she ground out.

"That's boring, though," Naruto said simply, "Okay, since your no help, I want to get something to eat, you have to pick though."

Hebi barely inclined her head, leading Naruto away from a slightly crestfallen secretary.

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Snow crunched under their feet as they made their way through Konoha, Hebi leading the way, almost as if she were trying to keep some distance between her and the blond haired boy following her.

"Um," Naruto began.

"Yes," Hebi stopped.

"What's with the lights and the trees and the-" Naruto kept rattling off questions.

"It's Christmas," the woman said matter of fact.

"What's Christmas?" Naruto asked.

Hebi eyed him up and down, gauging his age to be about eight, "You don't know what Christmas is?"

"No, I'm an orphan," Naruto said.

"What's that got to do with it?" The woman asked, "The Orphanages hold meals, and gifts are donated to children."

"I wasn't allowed," Naruto stated, following the woman as she started moving again, "They told me that bad children can't eat with the others. They told me that until I was seven."

"What happened when you turned seven?" Hebi asked, leading Naruto into a small shop.

"Ojiji had me moved to my own apartment," Naruto stated as the woman ordered food.

"You live by yourself?" She asked, barely concealing her surprise.

"Yeah," Naruto looked around, noting it was mostly Ninja inside the small shop, "Ojiji," he stopped, seeing her tilt her head, "the Hokage, helps me out. He checks on me once a week."

The woman laughed at Naruto's title for the Hokage, sliding up her mask just slightly so she could eat when the food arrived.

"It's called Dango," the woman said through a mouthful, "Eat it, it's good."

Naruto tentatively took a stick and began to much on it while the woman talked, "You don't know Christmas, huh?"

Naruto shook his head.

"Christmas is a family kind of thing," the woman said, "I don't have any family myself, but celebrate with my friends."

"How do you celebrate?" Naruto asked.

"The trees are more for the people who can afford it," Hebi thought, "People see friends or family that haven't seen in a long time, a lot of the time gifts are exchanged."

Naruto nodded his head as they finished up the last of the dango, "Anyway, the Hokage should be done by now."

He nodded as they left, quietly moving through the streets.

Naruto stopped outside the entrance to the Hokage's room, seeing a small pack of what looked like berries hanging over the door.

"Hebi-chan?" Naruto asked as she started walking away, leaving him just outside the door, "What are those for?"

Hebi turned and looked back, and let out a small laugh seeing his innocent expression. She walked up to him, lifting up her mask only slightly and gave him a small peck on the forehead. She continued to laugh at his shocked expression as she left him.

"Naruto," Sarutobi's voice echoed to him, "I'm glad your here, I have a Christmas present for you."

Naruto looked at Sarutobi, "Really?"

"Yes," Sarutobi smiled, putting some papers in front of him, "How would you feel about becoming a Ninja?"

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"And that's why I won't let anyone insult Ojiji, much less the position he held just sitting down," Naruto said as he stood up, brushing off his pants, "You can tell Tsunade that I will win that bet."

Naruto held the small balloon in his hand focusing as a smile crept across his face as Shizune stood up. Naruto held out his other hand, trying the same thing, a small blue sphere slowly grew in his hand.

He rushed the nearest tree driving his hand as hard as he could into it, **"Rasengan!"**


	26. Chapter 26, Unexpected

I Do Not Own Naruto

"Speaking"

"**Jutsu, Demon"**

"_**Haohmaru, Hanzo, Unknown"**_

"**OTHER ENTITY"**

A/N I think I finally found my muse for good and proper description. To the person I talked to, you know who you are, it took a while, but I think I got it.

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Tsunade sat by herself, sipping at a small saucer of Sake. Her apprentice, Shizune, had been gone for sometime now. She idly wondered at the brat, and the strange illusion that she saw, she wasn't even sure if that's what it was.

It couldn't have been a normal Genjutsu, especially one like that. Something like she saw required a halfway intimate knowledge of the person it was being used on. She was angry at the thought of such knowledge, if it was, how dare that brat use Nawaki against her like that.

Tsunade shook her head, trying to think about it rationally through the alcohol. The brat couldn't possibly known about Nawaki, unless Jiraiya had told him, and Jiraiya, despite his faults, would never divulge someone's past carelessly. Especially if it was someone he cared about.

Tsunade ordered another glass as she sunk into the depression thinking about her brother always brought about. Her younger brother, cursed by the damned necklace that she wore, that cursed necklace. That stopped her train of thought.

Why did she offer that cursed necklace to Naruto? Did she really think so horribly about a Konoha Nin that she'd never met, to offer them that necklace in a bet? Was she hoping to kill him with that curse?

She couldn't answer any of those questions as the alcohol sunk in. A smooth voice echoed, a whisper on the wind.

"Tsunade-hime," it echoed.

She knew that voice. She growled as it echoed through her head.

"Come out, Tsunade-hime," the voice echoed, "I only want to talk."

Tsunade slammed her glass down as she left, "That's right, Hime," the voiced cooed, like a siren's call.

She walked down the road, "Wrong way Hime," the voice sounded like it was behind her. She turned and saw no one, "This way," it sounded further down the road.

Tsunade followed the voice, it seemed to lead her on. Soon she came upon the visage of Orochimaru, his arms twisted and gnarled as if by decay. A young boy with silver hair and glasses had his hands up in a sign.

"**Naishoubanashi o sozo Kaze no Jutsu, Kai (Whisper on the Wind Technique, Release)!" **The boy rasped out in Orochimaru's voice, **"Onsei Mozou no Jutsu, Kai (Voice Mimic Technique, Release)!"**

"Thank you Kabuto," Orochimaru smiled at the boy, whom did a small bow, "Nice to see you again, Tsunade-hime."

"Just tell me why you're here," Tsunade spat.

"Is that anyway to greet an old friend, Hime?" Orochimaru had a feral grin on his face, "But down to business, your so dull since your old lover and brother passed away," Tsunade clenched her fist, but didn't strike him, "Anyways, I'd like to strike a deal with you."

"What do you want," Tsunade growled.

"Fine," Orochimaru whispered, "I want to use my arms again. Sensei was so kind the last we fought."

"And you killed him, what is it, Orochimaru?" Tsunade started to turn.

"I want you to heal my arms," Orochimaru rasped, "and in exchange, I can give you Dan and Nawaki back."

Tsunade stopped, "You can't possible promise that."

"I can," Orochimaru said from behind her, "I've discovered a Jutsu that can bring the dead back, I want you to think on this deal first. Meet me here in tomorrow."

Tsunade gave a barely perceptible nod, and Orochimaru's smile widened, "Tomorrow," he said as he disappeared from view.

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Naruto sat on his back, resting. He was happy, he'd finally figured out that Jutsu, the Rasengan.

He sat there, and watched that strange tendril that reached out of him, disappearing in the distance. Curious, he grabbed it. He found himself next to Haohmaru again.

"_**Hey, boss, long time no see," **_Haohmaru waved a tendril enthusiastically, _**"Come to check on the pretty lady?"**_

Naruto gaped, as he stared at Haohmaru, "What?"

"_**That's right," **_Haohmaru had a thoughtful look on his face, _**"You were pissed beyond belief the last time you were here."**_

"Haohmaru?" Naruto felt his lips move, Ino's voice coming out, "Who are you talking to?"

"_**Just having a small chat with the boss," **_Haohmaru smiled.

"The boss?" Ino voice came out, Naruto realized he was standing in Ino's body, his body not his to control.

"_**You know, Naruto," **_Haohmaru smirked.

"Hm," Ino thought for a moment, "You can talk to him?"

"_**Yeah, he's here right now!" **_Haohmaru laughed as he felt the panic come from Naruto's mind.

"WHAT!" Ino shrieked, "How often does he come here?!?"

"_**This is only his second visit," **_Haohmaru explained, _**"Last time he was here, you were about to get raped."**_

"I suppose it's all right," Ino ground out, "As long as he never comes when I'm in the shower."

Mentally, Naruto's eyes widened, finally his voice came out, and he felt his lips move, "I wouldn't do that Ino."

"What was that!" Ino exclaimed, her own voice coming from her lips again.

"Ino!" Naruto could hear Ino's mother call, "Are you all right?"

"I'm fine," Ino called down, "Uzumaki," she whispered, "Don't ever do that again."

"I'm sorry," Naruto found it was an extremely hard force of will to get Ino's body to move, he felt her eyes widen, "Sorry Ino!"

"You and I are having a chat when you come back," Ino punched her fist into another hand.

"Haohmaru," Naruto spoke mentally to his other, "Can you speak for me?"

"_**Sure, boss," **_Haohmaru cleared his throat, _**"Pretty lady, as much as it pains me, I'm now talking for Naruto from here on."**_

"Whatever," Ino started to remove the bandage around her arm.

"_**How long has that been there?" **_Haohmaru asked, speaking for Naruto now.

"Since Sasuke left me to a river of sand," Ino said sullenly.

Naruto noted the lack of -kun on the end of Sasuke's name, _**"I'm sorry," **_Haohmaru said.

"I don't want your pity Naruto," Ino said, going to the lower levels of the bandage, fresh blood staining them, "Why won't this stupid thing heal?"

"_**Hehe," **_Haohmaru laughed nervously, himself again, _**"I think I've been here too long."**_

"Huh?" Ino asked, removing the bandage completely, she began to wash it, Naruto noted it didn't hurt as she moved the flesh.

"_**Ino-chan," **_Haohmaru said for Naruto, _**"Doesn't that hurt?"**_

"Now that you say something, no," Ino said as she poked the exposed wound, she pulled back on the skin getting it into the light, she felt a feeling that would be described as pulling an adhesive off. She saw a pale reflection underneath it.

"Naruto," Ino said, afraid, "What is this?"

"_**I'm sorry," **_Haohmaru said, speaking for both himself and Naruto, _**"I don't know," **_Haohmaru spoke for both of them, the Haohmaru himself had a small inkling of what, _**"don't pull on it!"**_

Ino pulled a little further, seeing skin underneath her skin, the same shade as Naruto's, with a shriek, Naruto found himself back in his body.

"Oh god," Naruto said to himself, "What's happened?"

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Tsunade sat at the same bar when Jiraiya came in and sat down next to her.

"How'd your little meeting go?" Jiraiya asked crossly.

"You pry where you don't belong, as usual," Tsunade said, as she poured a drink for Jiraiya.

"Tsunade-hime," Jiraiya said, concern laced in his voice, "There's no way to bring back the dead."

"Shut up," Tsunade spoke quietly, "Just shut up, I've heard and see too much of them already."

"Seen?" Jiraiya asked confused.

"That brat you brought with you," Tsunade said as tears leaked out, "I don't know what he did, but I saw Nawaki again, he asked me why I let him die."

"He can't control it," Jiraiya said quietly, "I'm sorry you had to witness something like that."

"What do you mean, can't control it?" Tsunade said harshly.

"We don't know," Jiraiya said, "That's just the problem. His genetic structure is still unstable. Others who've made contact with him in a combat situation have witnessed other traumatic experiences, but those said events never happened. They show signs of Genjutsu, but I'm not so sure it's a Genjutsu."

"Why?" Tsunade ground out.

"Everyone who's had this happen have witnessed something horrible happen to someone close to them, or in your case, whispered harsh words," Jiraiya said, going over what he knew, and drawing the connection that he'd noticed.

"Whatever," Tsunade said, setting her glass down, "Enjoy your drink," she stood up and left.

Jiraiya idly took another sip of the sake, not noticing a strange taste that was in it, "Dammit, Naruto," he said to himself, "I think you just made our job harder."

"Pervert!" Naruto loud voice echoed through the bar, Jiraiya hunched over his drink, take most of it down in one gulp, "Dammit, Ero-sennin!"

Jiraiya found himself facing the hunched figure of Naruto, who had leapt onto the bar and was looking pleadingly into Jiraiya's eyes, "How long do you think this will take?"

"Hm?" Jiraiya cocked an eyebrow, "How long will what take?"

"Getting Baa-chan back to Konoha!" Naruto sputtered, "I have to get back soon," Naruto started, "I need to see Ino-chan! I need to know if what I saw was only..."

Naruto trailed off looking down, "You need to know if what you saw, which I'm sure must have been terrible to have you acting like this, was only imagined," Jiraiya finished, "Good news, Naruto," Jiraiya said, "There are events happening tomorrow that will end our mission."

Naruto nodded happily, semi-content as he slipped out of the bar, "The bad news," Jiraiya said to himself, "Is that we could end up back in Konoha in the form of the Memorial Stone if things go horribly wrong."


End file.
